World Tokens, the Property of a North Country Collector

Jamaica, KINGSTON, Gall’s Bazaar, Myrtle Bank, One Gill, uniface, incuse legend around value, copper, 23.5mm (Lyall 151; cf. Prid. 136; cf. Roehrs 1219). Good very fine, extremely rare, perhaps only one other specimen known £500-£600

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, World Tokens, the Property of a North Country Collector.

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Provenance: Bt. R. A. Brandon, 1982

James Gall of Edinburgh (b.1834-d.1899) went to Jamaica in 1855 or 1856. He founded, owned and edited several newspapers; he ran a private detective agency, a printers, a telegraph agency, a circulating library; he sold stationery, fine groceries and hardware. He built the original Myrtle Bank Hotel in 1870 and operated it as a sanitarium hotel with sea and shower baths. His bazaar at Myrtle Bank sold valentines, fans and other flirtatious items. The value of ‘one gill’ is a local Jamaican unit of currency with a value of 3/4d.