Coins, Tokens and Historical Medals

Tickets and Checks (Post-1830), Douglas, London & Newcastle Tea Co, brass Quarter-Pound by Ardill, Leeds, 1879, legend around value, rev. throughout england scotland, etc, edge grained, 22mm, 2.80g/12h (Quarmby 92; Mackay 165; cf. R.J. Ford I, 244; cf. BDW 10, 243). Very fine and very rare £150-200

Provenance: H.F. Guard Collection, Spink Auction 182, 29 June 2006, lot 532 (part).

The London & Newcastle Tea Co was founded in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1875 and quickly established a large number of branches throughout the British Isles, from which checks were issued in up to four different denominations, the majority dated 1876 or 1879, bearing the name of James A. Game, the promoter of the company. The branch in Douglas, situated at 21 Duke street, does not appear to have lasted very long; by 1881 the occupier of the property, James Quiggin, is shown as a bootmaker in the Census return, although Hugh A. Hawthorn, aged 25, an Irishman, is listed as a tea dealer at 22a Duke street (Alan Kelly, pers. comm.)