Bath Co-Op Soc. Ltd., Small Loaf (Brass)

This handsome crown was issued on the 29th of April 2011 for the wedding of Prince William to Catherine. You have the conjoined busts of the happy couple facing right with his Grandmother, H.M. Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse. These are most interesting crowns issued by the small island of Tristan da Cunha, in the most remote South Atlantic Ocean. Each crown is gold plated and individually numbered on the crown itself. The original mintage was 50,000 pieces and we believe the original issue price was £14.95. Each crown comes in protective capsule and our price is just £9.95, which is quite a bargain. Limit three per collector!

The co-operative movement, which expanded rapidly after originating in Rochdale in 1844, was based on the concept that its profits were returned to the members in the form of a dividend, calculated as a proportion of each pound spent. The dividend could not be declared until accounts were made up, and it was not easy to keep track of every member’s spending in the meantime. A solution was to give an equivalent face value in tokens with every purchase. When the dividend was declared, all tokens brought in were exchanged at the dividend rate. The redeemed tokens could then be issued again. Many tokens were issued with the value expressed in terms of the goods themselves, such as bread or 1/4 lb. of tea rather than a monetary value.

Born Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz on 13 August 1926, the son of a wealthy Spanish farmer, Fidel Castro went on to study law at the University of Havana where he adopted leftist and anti-imperialist ideas. He participated in various rebellions and was imprisoned for a failed attempt to overthrow the Cuban president Batista in 1953. After a year’s imprisonment, Castro travelled to Mexico where he formed a revolutionary group, the 26th of July Movement, with his brother Raúl Castro and Ernesto “Che” Guevara and went on to play a key role in the Cuban Revolution which saw the overthrow of Batista in 1959 and Castro assuming military and political power as Cuba’s prime minister. He died on 25 November 2016, having been the longest serving non-royal head of state in the entire 20th and 21st centuries. He is pictured on this commemorative medal at different stages of his life, mostly smoking a Cuban cigar!