I have an interesting one today – a penny token minted in 1794 for M. Lambe & Son, Tea Dealers and Grocers of Bath in Somerset. GREAT BRITAIN Time of George III, 1760-1820 CU Penny Token (29.5mm, 21.30g, 6h) Dated 1794 Obverse: TEAS COFFEE SPICES & SUGARS. around camel, bridled, walking left under radiating sky, carrying load on its back; star in exergue Reverse: M. LAMBE & SON TEA-DEALERS & GROCERS BATH * around view of the Old East India House within dotted border; INDIA HOUSE above, date below On edge: WE PROMISE TO PAY ONE PENNY ON DEMAND. References: Numista 504216 (this coin pictured) Mintage: unknown In NGC encapsulation, graded MS 63 BN. From the Rumney Animal Collection. Rich dark chocolate patina. Much rarer than the halfpenny type. Struck with the same dies on a doubly thick flan. This token was minted at the very end of the 18th century, a time when the British empire was just beginning to come into its own. It’s true, the American colonies had recently been lost, and there were serious troubles in Europe; but elsewhere across the world, notably in India, British trade, power, and influence were ever increasing. From these distant foreign lands came a flood of new and exotic luxury goods: tea, tobacco, coffee, sugar, spices, textiles, and other commodities. As the scale of the trade grew, so did the ability of the everyday Englander to partake of its riches. Goods once considered luxuries only for the ultra-wealthy became increasingly available to the general public. It was in this context of foreign trade and far-flung empire that this token was struck, and its design was most certainly intended to evoke and accentuate the spirit of the age. On the obverse there is the image of a camel, an animal itself redolent of the mysterious Orient, laden with strange and exotic goods, plodding under a foreign sun. The reverse depicts the place where it all happened: the East India House in London, which was the headquarters of the British East India Company, the huge chartered company that at the time still essentially ran India and all trade in the Far East. East India House, London, circa 1766 By T. Simpson (1766) - William Foster, The East India House (London, 1924), opp. p. 132, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26266317 Mark Lambe (died c. 1791) was a tea-dealer and grocer who ran his business out of a shop on Stall Street in Bath, Somerset. When he died, his wife Mary took over the family business. On July 21, 1791, she took her son into partnership, and the business became known as M. Lambe & Son, selling, in addition to the commodities noted on the above token, quality candles and candle molds. Together, Mary Lambe and her son continued to operate the business into the 1800s. "An advertisement from the 21 July 1791 edition of the Bath Chronicle announcing that Mary Lambe had taken her son into partnership:" Source: http://www.yeovilhistory.info/lambe-markes.htm Nos. 35 and 36 Stall Street, which were leased by Mary Lambe in 1797 for M. Lambe & Son Tea-Dealers and Grocers: By Plumbum64 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28052472 I hope you enjoy the post! Please feel free to post your own coins & comments.
Thanks! It was too nice to pass up, especially in attractive mint-state condition. Although there are actually a surprising number of MS graded examples.
