Owner Comments:
Lambe's 1794 Penny
REFERENCE: Somersetshire-Bath D&H 8
DIAMETER: 31 mm
WEIGHT:
COMPOSITION: copper
DIESINKER: Arnold ?
MANUFACTURER: William Lutwyche ?
RARITY: RRR (less than 10 known)
OBVERSE: figure of camel walking left carrying a load on it’s back under a cloud with sun rays, star below: "TEAS COFFEE SPICES & SUGAR."
REVERSE: view of London's Old East India House with "INDIA HOUSE" above and date below "1794": "M. LAMBE & SON TEA-DEALERS & GROCERS BATH *"
EDGE: "ON DEMAND WE PROMISE TO PAY ONE PENNY * "
Issued for general circulation
Mary Lambe & Son were grocers and tea dealers of Stall Street in Bath. The camel beneath the rays of the eastern sun probably refers to the spices sold; it is also the crest of the Grocers’ Company. The use of the camel in late 18th Century art was a common one owing to the first major European explorations of the Near East during that period. It was intended to convey to the viewer a feel of exotic imports from the East.
The building shown on the reverse is the ornate Georgian Old East India House Tea Exchange building located on Leadenhall Street, London, which was built in 1729. India House was the London headquarters of the East India Company which ruled British India until 1858 when the British government took control of the company's possessions in India. The first East India House on the site was an Elizabethan mansion, previously known as Craven House, which the Company first occupied in 1648. This was completely rebuilt in 1726 and further remodelled and extended in 1796 and 1800. It was demolished in 1861.