1856 James Swan & Co.,
St. Sebastian Mills, Colombo, Ceylon

A Token struck by James Swan & Co. in 1856 for use in St. Sebastian Mills, Colombo, Ceylon.
SPECIFICATIONS
AlloyBrass
Diameter32 mm
Thickness1.8 mm
Weight10.49 gms
Shaperound
EdgePlain
DieAxis
1856_swan_sebastian_mills_obverse 1856_swan_sebastian_mills_reverse
Lowsley #Unlisted Pridmore #p97

Obverse : JAMES SWAN & CO ST-SEBASTIAN MILLS.
Mill building with Chimney and smoke.
1856
¤ COLOMBO CEYLON ¤
Top and bottom lines along periphery, between plain circle and raised rim.
Reverse : ST SEBASTIAN MILLS
JAMES
1856
SWAN & CO
+ COLOMBO CEYLON +
Top and bottom lines along periphery, between plain circle and raised rim.

JAMES SWAN & Co. From an early directory it is found that J. Swan was a planter in 1845 on an estate called Morankande, Harispattu, in Central Province. In 1848 he had joined a firm styled Swan, Keir & Co. In 1849 he was the Secretary of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce but in 1850 was its Chairman. In 1855 he was living at Marandhan and, as the Marandhan Store token also bears the date 1856, he seems by then to have carried on business under his own name as James Swan & Co.
The St. Sebastian Mills token is associated with the first coconut oil mills established in Colombo in 1832, which Ackland & Boyd (1829-1848) acquired from the Ceylon Government. These mills were first started by Governor Sir Robert Wilmot Horton, Bart (23 Oct. 1831 - Nov. 1837), and actually ran on Government account for a short time. Considerable progress was made in the manufacture of oil, and Ackland & Boyd introduced into the mills the first oil machinery in Ceylon worked by steam.
As Ackland & Boyd went into liquidation in 1848 it would seem that the mills then passed into the hands of James Swan & Co. James Swan died in 1865 and the name of the firm disappears from the directories after that date.

Reference
* Coins and Tokens of Ceylon, Lieut. Col B. Lowsley, Num. Chron. Sr III Vol. XV, 1895.
* The Coins of British Commonwealth of Nations to the end of the reign of George VI 1952 Part 2 - Asian Territories by F. Pridmore Spink & Son Ltd., 1965. Tokens

The 600 dpi images are displayed at 200 dpi.
I thank Shiran Cruse, Kandy, Sri Lanka, for the scans of this token from his collection which is now with me.