Lot 694

Description

Great Britain, George I, silver shilling, 1723 SSC (S.3647), silver sixpence, 1723 SSC (S.3652)(illustrated); also India, Madras, East India Company, copper ten cash, 1808. Fine; nearly very fine; very good. (3)

The first two are struck from silver discovered in Indonesia in 1722 by the South Sea Company. It was sent back to England and used for the minting of coins of the realm. The last is a coin salvaged from the 813 ton East Indiaman, the Admiral Gardner, she was built in 1796 and is recorded as having been the first of the Company's vessels to use the new East India Dock in Blackwall when it opened in 1806. After completing six voyages she sank off the South East Kent coast (England) in 1808. This token was recovered from the wreck in 1985. They were the Company's own coinage, known as cash. Trade tokens could only be used within the Company, and as employees were paid in tokens they were obliged to purchase goods only from their employers. Originally from The Maritime Museum Ramsgate.