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1 Dollar Sierra Leone Company, type '1'
| Issuer | Sierra Leone Company |
|---|---|
| Year | 1791 |
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| Value | 1 Dollar |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | The central device depicts two clasped hands in high relief, symbolising trade and cooperation between the Sierra Leone Company and the African peoples, rendered with fine anatomical detail showing differing skin tones on the two hands. The numeral 1 appears both above and below the central handshake motif, flanking the design vertically. The circular legend ONE DOLLAR PIECE runs around the periphery, with the date 1791 inscribed in the lower exergue. The field is flat and mirror-like, consistent with proof striking, and a bold beaded border frames the entire composition. |
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| Additional information |
The Sierra Leone Company was a British abolitionist venture chartered in 1792 to establish a free settlement at Freetown, and these dollar pieces were struck in London specifically to serve as a local currency for that colony — one of the earliest purpose-struck coinages for a sub-Saharan African settlement. The Company's coins circulated alongside a chaotic mix of Spanish dollars, cowrie shells, and trade goods, and the enterprise itself collapsed financially within a decade before the Crown absorbed it as a Crown Colony in 1808.
The gold-plated copper construction of this type (KM#7b) distinguishes it from the straight copper strikes, and surviving examples almost invariably show plating loss through circulation.