Bath & Twerton 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 Portuguese explorer Tristão da Cunha was born in 1460 and died in 1540. At one time he was King Manuel I’s ambassador to the Vatican under Pope Leo X. But he is best known for his antics in the Middle East and India. When in his wanderings he found a group of islands in the South Atlantic, although the weather was too rough to get off his ship, he claimed them and named one after himself. Now that island Tristan da Cunha has issued a crown to honour their discoverer. It is diamond-shaped and has H.M. Queen Elizabeth II on one side and Tristão on the other side with a sailing ship and wheel. This is heavily silver plated and struck in Proof condition. It also comes in a diamond-shaped protective capsule. If you name an island after yourself, why not have a coin made for you?

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.