| SPECIFICATIONS | |
| Denomination | 4½ pence |
| Alloy | Copper |
| Diameter | 18.3 mm |
| Thickness | 1.4 mm |
| Weight | 2.34 gms |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Plain |
| DieAxis | 0° |
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| Lowsley #36 Pridmore #95 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Obverse : Kings Bust at center to left GEORGIUS IV on left and
DEL GRATIA on right along periphery with the date 1828
at bottom. May have been poorly counter marked on this side.
Reverse : Counter mark GS&CO at center almost horizontal.
Image of Brittanniar to right at center with Legend
BRITTANNIAR on left and FID: DEF: on right along
periphery.
Was the white paint original to highlight counter-mark or
added by a collector. Should it be removed
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| Lowsley #36 Pridmore #95 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Obverse : Top-down 30 degree clockwise counterstamp GS&CO.
Queen Bust at center to left VICTORIA D:G: BRITANNIAR REGINA F: D:
along periphery.
at bottom. May have been poorly counter marked on this side.
Reverse : Right-left upside-down 15 degree anticlockwise counterstamp GS&CO.
Crown above HALF FARTHING at center, with the date 1856 below.
From 1843 Messrs Steuart countermarked (GS&CO) usually on both sides local copper coins. The English-struck stivers of 1802 and 1815 and halfpennies (1826-1859) were assigned a value for use at 6 pence and the half-farthings (1828-1856) was 4 ½ pence. No other firm in Ceylon adopted the system of countermarking as GS&CO
Lowsley states that specimens were very rare in 1890. He had found countermarked English half-farthings of 1828, 1830, 1837, 1839, 1842, 1843, 1844, 1847, 1851, 1862, 1853, 1854, 1856.
The 1881 token was designed by the manager, Mr Charles Hendry, were issued in 1881, after all the countermarked coins in use by the firm had been called in.
STEUART, G. & Co. The firm of George Stenart & Co. merchants,
bankers, estate and commission agents, was first started in 1835 by
Captain James Steuart who was at that time Master Attendant of
Colombo. On its becoming known that he was engaged in private trade he
was ordered by the Government to cease his connections. Other
arrangements had to be made and in 1839 he handed over his business to
his brother, Joseph Steuart, a Master Mariner. Joseph died in 1843 and
a younger brother, Captain George Steuart, assumed control and from
that time the name of the firm was George Steuart & Co. James Steuart
retired from Government service in 1855. He died in England in 1870
aged 70. Captain George Steuart retired from the firm in 1863 and died
in England in 1896 at the age of 88.
The main business of the firm has been that of estate agency
work. As their minted token indicates, the firm had Wekande Mills
(Slave Island, Colombo) which employed over 1,000 hands engaged in
curing coffee, cinchona, etc.
Text from
* 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 upper VF grade counter-marked 1828 half-farthing coin was scanned at 600dpi and the images are displayed at 300dpi. It was purchased in 2003 April from a NY-dealer.
The lower VF grade counter-marked on both sides 1856 half-fathing from Mark Freehill collection of Ceylon tokens Noble.com.AU Auction 126, 2021 March 24th lot 1244(part 1/5)