J. P. Green & C o, Ceylon
1858 - 4½d

A Ceylon 4½d Token issued by Messrs. J. P. Green & Co., of Colpetty Mills, Colombo, in 1858, and was struck in England. As in other cases, the 4½d. represents 18 cents, which is the price paid for picking half a hundred-weight of clean coffee.

SPECIFICATIONS
Denomination4½ pence
AlloyCopper
Diameter22. mm
Thickness1.2 mm
Weight3.53 gms
ShapeRound
EdgePlain
DieAxis3O°
Issuenot identified
 jpg_4hd_obverse jpg_4hd_reverse
Lowsley #11, Pridmore #38

Obverse : J P G within a beaded circle inside raised rim.
Reverse : 4D½ within a beaded circle inside raised rim.

In 1883 J. P. Green & Co. owned a mill for coffee at Konupitiya with a labour force of 450 hands. The partners of the firm were J. P. Green, Staniforth Green, with A. P. Green and G. H. Green as assistants. From the information given by Lowsley, the Colpetty mills of must have passed into the hands of J. P. Green & Co, from Lee Hedges & Co. (see token)

Another token, I obtained at the same time has a small hole drilled out on top and appears to have been plated with tin or pewter. Other examples of this unpublished version of token this known in Colombo.

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 token scannned and displayed at 300 dpi is from a SLNS meeting Auction held in Colombo in 2004 November.
Interesting to have a token with initials same as the standard extension of JPEG compessed images.