| SPECIFICATIONS | |
| Denomination | 4½d |
| Alloy | Brass |
| Diameter | 26.7 mm |
| Thickness | 1.8 mm |
| Weight | 6.98 gms |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Plain |
| DieAxis | O° |
| Issue | |
|
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| Lowsley #15 Pridmore #54 Mitchiner #2240a | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Obverse : | Monogram K. D. & Co. | within a beaded circle inside raised rim. |
| Reverse : | A tortoise facing left, | within a beaded circle inside raised rim. |
This token is always bored for suspension with a small circular hole above
the tortoise.
It was used at Uplands Mills, Mutwall, Colombo, where the
celebrated 200 year old tortoise lived.
The grounds are known to the natives as ``Arma Tortuni,''or
Tortoise Gardens.
The monogramed letters on the obverse stand for Keir, Dundas & Co.
See also the ship token
and elephant token of the same firm.
The three tokens beautifully designed by Captain
C. E. H. Symons, late R.A. were struck in London.
With weight about 111 grains, they were tariffed at the usual
nominal value, viz., 4½d. or 18¾ cents. and was
issued under similar conditions.
KEIR, DUNDAS & CO. This firm was established in Kandy in 1854
as estate agents, general merchants and forwarding agents, the
original partners were :-
Simon Keir, who was a planter in 1850
G. H. Dnndas and Captain John Keith Jolly.
The office was situated in Kings Street. The firm owned a large
number of coffee estates as well as acting as Agents for other
properties. So large was their enterprise that they were referred to
locally as the Kings of Kandy.
From 1864-66 the firm's resources were heavily strained consequent upon the dislocation of trade at the close of the American Civil War. Many fine properties changed hands at this period, and the estates on which the firm had claims had no buyers. To protect these claims, Keir Dundas & Co. bought in many properties including the Upland Mills and the St. Sebastian Mills in Colombo. Their committments became so large, that in the face of the collapse of coffee, the firm had to transfer both assets and liabilities to London supporters and the local business was taken over in 1866 under the name of Duncan, Symons & Co., the partners being John Duncan and C.E.H. Symons, late Lieut. RA, Trincomalee. Symons was the designer of the tokens which were struck in the last year of the firm's name, of Keir Dundas & Co.
The new firm failed to weather the fierce financial storm of 1869-72, and in 1873 it went into liquidation, the establishment being taken over by a firm styled Duncan, Anderson & Co.
The tortoise design tokens were countermarked with letters stammed incuse
on the reverse in connection with the change in the name of the firm in 1866.
S for Symons and
This token is discussed in
paper
An account of a Mauritian giant tortoise on a 19th
century Sri Lankan coin by Anslem de Silva
2009 RADIATA 18(2) p. 16-20.
Reference
The coin was scanned at 300dpi and the images are displayed at
225dpi.
This specimen replaced one that I purchased in 2003 April
from a dealer in NY-USA, where the hole has been plugged with 0.2 grams of
brass by a previous owner. I was deciding if to unplug that, and have
now passed it onto another collector
Obverse of S - D and S - DS counter marked tokens
from B&W print scanned ex Dick Ford Collection (1995 Feb 23 Taisei-Baldwin-Gillio Auction#19 lot #277 part),
and colorized with Photo-Shop.
See countermarked tokens linked @ below.
Link Pridmore c/mkd above c/mkd on c/mkd below
@
P#55 S
P#56 S D
P#57 S DS
P#58 D
@
P#58a D
P#59 DS
* 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
* Oriental Coins CE 600 - 1979 by Michael Mitchiner 1979
This AU condition coin was purchased in 2003 May
from a dealer in Colombo Lanka.