The Sierra Leone Company was a British abolitionist venture granted a royal charter in 1792 to govern the Province of Freedom settlement at Freetown. These copper tokens were struck in Birmingham ahead of the formal charter, intended to facilitate commerce in a colony being built largely by freed Black Loyalists evacuated from Nova Scotia. The Company's coinage was one of the earliest attempts to establish a formal monetary system in West Africa under British auspices.
The 1791 dating places production before the Company had legal standing to govern — a detail that reflects how far ahead of its administrative reality the enterprise was operating.
The Sierra Leone Company was a British abolitionist venture granted a royal charter in 1792 to govern the Province of Freedom settlement at Freetown. These copper tokens were struck in Birmingham ahead of the formal charter, intended to facilitate commerce in a colony being built largely by freed Black Loyalists evacuated from Nova Scotia. The Company's coinage was one of the earliest attempts to establish a formal monetary system in West Africa under British auspices.
The 1791 dating places production before the Company had legal standing to govern — a detail that reflects how far ahead of its administrative reality the enterprise was operating.