British Trade Tokens, Tickets and Passes, Numismatic Books

Transport, Lancashire, Liverpool, Etna, 1817, copper, liver bird on tablet, rev. date, etna and tablet, uninscribed, 34mm, 18.94g/12h (Smith –; D & W 333/26; cf. Noble II, 1122); The Liverpool Shipbuilding Co Ltd, brass Sixpence, 1866, by Keeffe & Sons, steamship, rev. stamped 4391, 36mm, 15.81g/12h (D & W 333/29; MG 1405; Hawkins pp.582-3 and pl.22, 11; Noble II, 1127); Pacific Steam Navigation Co, brass Sixpence [by Keeffe & Sons], three-masted steamship above arms of Liverpool, rev. stamped 55 d, 35mm, 12.42g/12h (D & W 334/33; MG 1410; Hawkins pp.582-3; Noble II, 1127) [3]. First and last with edge knocks, otherwise fine to very fine, last pierced as issued £80-100

Provenance: D.C. Pottinger Collection [first from S.E. Schwer October 1987, others from H. Simmons July 2001).

Third only illustrated. The Etna, built by Dawson & Pearson on Merseyside and launched on 7 March 1817, was the first steam-powered ferry on the River Mersey (although this view has recently been challenged) operating between Tranmere Pool and Liverpool, the service opening on 17 April 1817; Liverpool Shipbuilding Co Ltd, 18 Sefton street, fl. 1865-71; Pacific Steam Navigation Co, established by William Wheelwright in 1840 to run services on the east coast of South America, inaugurated a direct Liverpool-Valparaiso service in 1868 and, with 57 vessels, had the world’s largest merchant steamship fleet by 1873