World Tokens

Trinidad, port of spain, H.E. Rapsey, copper Half-Stampee, c. 1860, legend around value, rev. shamrock, thistle and rose, bakery & grocery 9 fredrick st port of spain, 27mm, 5.26g/12h (Lyall 508; Prid. 5; Ford 696; Tankersley 400). Reverse with light staining, otherwise very fine, rare £150-200

Provenance: Bt W.H. Pheatt 1978.

Horatio Edwin Rapsey (†1892), baker and grocer, 9 Fredrick street, b. Ashburton, Devon, testified before a commission in 1888 that he had lived in Trinidad for 42 years, so emigrated to the island c. 1846. At the time of his death he was a Port of Spain councillor and president of the Trinidad Building & Loan Association. The business passed to his son, John Alfred Rapsey (1853-1912) c. 1887