Mackwoods & Co
~1850 - Maradahn Mills

A large Tin token issued by Mackwoods & Co. for use in Maradahn Mills.
SPECIFICATIONS
Denomination pence
AlloyTin
Diameter35 mm
Thickness mm
Weight10.17 gms
Shaperound
EdgePlain
DieAxis
Issue
mackwoods_co_obverse mackwoods_co_reverse
Lowsley #Unlisted Pridmore #67

Obverse : MACKWOODS
& Co
Stamped incuse along periphery.
Reverse : blank

MACKWOODS & CO. The name Mackwood is unique in the Mercantile history of Ceylon. The firm was founded in 1841 by Captain William Mackwood, who started business as a merchant and agent. He was joined by his younger brother, Francis Mackwood, in 1844. This event was apparently the cause of the plural name appearing on the tokens as it was in the case of Alstons, Scott & Co. (see No. 2). However, the "S" of Mackwoods was dropped about 1874 and the firm became known as Mackwood & Co.
In 1845 William Mackwood livved at Maradahn House, there also stood the Maradahn Mills, two miles from Colombo, for whose use the tokens were struck.

Reference
* 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 was scanned at 600 dpi and the images are displayed at 175 dpi.
I thank Bob Lyall of UK, for the scans of this token from his collection.