CEYLON: black vulcanite token, ND (1872), Pridmore-64, HULTSDORF MILLS / COLOMBO CEYLON, catamaran under sail, within a circular border // G. & W. Leechman monogram in shaded script, beaded border, UNC. A well-designed token struck in England and introduced at the Hultsdorf Mills in 1872. It represented the price paid for picking a hundredweight of coffee at the greatly reduced rate of 25 cents a hundredweight. The use of tokens was discontinued in the mill in 1891. The Company, called The Hultsdorf Mills Co. (Ceylon) Ltd., was founded in London to develop the mill called Belmont Oil Mill (on Belmont Street), founded in 1835 on a tract of land on the banks of the Canal at Hultsdorf. The name of Hultsdorf itself commemorates the name of General Hulft (a Governor of Ceylon during the Dutch regime). On the death in 1840 of the founder of the Mill, the new management christened it as Hultsdorf Mills, Colombo. Crushing machinery for coconut oil was installed. A saw mill was erected and in 1855 soap making was added to the mill's activities. In 1865, when the Hultsdorf Mills Co. went into liquidation, the property was acquired by G. B. Leechman, who with his brother William Carey Leechman as partner, founded the firm of G. & W. Leechman; the initial letters of this firm G. & W. L. are monogrammed on the token.

Estimate: USD 75-125