The ackey was the unit of account used by the Company of Merchants Trading to Africa for gold-dust transactions along the Gold Coast, and these silver coins were struck specifically to function within that indigenous weight-based exchange system rather than as conventional currency. The Company — a regulated body that had absorbed the old Royal African Company's assets in 1750 — needed coinage that local traders would accept on familiar terms. Half and quarter ackey denominations were struck alongside this piece.
Production was contracted to Matthew Boulton's Soho Mint in Birmingham, one of the earliest significant commercial commissions the Soho operation handled before its famous Royal Mint contract work.
The ackey was the unit of account used by the Company of Merchants Trading to Africa for gold-dust transactions along the Gold Coast, and these silver coins were struck specifically to function within that indigenous weight-based exchange system rather than as conventional currency. The Company — a regulated body that had absorbed the old Royal African Company's assets in 1750 — needed coinage that local traders would accept on familiar terms. Half and quarter ackey denominations were struck alongside this piece.
Production was contracted to Matthew Boulton's Soho Mint in Birmingham, one of the earliest significant commercial commissions the Soho operation handled before its famous Royal Mint contract work.