Coin Admiral Gardner Treasure

Admiral Gardner Shipwreck

In 1808, the East Indian Company minted distinctive coins to finance trade in its vast empire.  Depicting the elegant arms of the world's most famous trading company; the historic coins were embedded in wax, packed in barrels and shipped on the 800 ton Admiral Gardner.  Caught in a fierce gale off the English coast on the 24th day of January in 1809, the storm-tossed ship floundered in the terrible night.  Frantic cries of alarm and distress joined the roar of wind and waves as the helpless vessel was claimed by the raging sea.

British East India Company

Founded under a special charter in 1600 by Queen Elizabeth I, the British East India Company had a profound impact throughout the world, including colonial America, where: the company's first governor, Sir Thomas Smith, backed the Jamestown Colony of Virginia in 1607; company director Sir Edwin Sandys was a sponsor for the Pilgrims; Elihu Yale used his company-earned fortune to endow Yale University in 1701; and on 16 December 1773, angry colonial patriots dumped English tea into the Boston harbor from three East Indian Company ships in the famed tax protest known in American history as the Boston Tea Party.  

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the British East India Company maintained a vast business empire across the globe.  They were the richest and most powerful trading company the world had ever seen.  To help finance this world-wide trade, the British Crown authorized the Company to mint their own coinage.  The coins were minted in England and shipped to India. these coins had both English and Urdu writing on them to help facilitate trade in the East.  In 1803, copper coinage consisting on four denominations -- 20, 10, 5, and 1 cash pieces -- were struck.  In 1808, 20 and 10 cash pieces were struck once again.

Today, we think of cash as paper money, but for the traders, explorers, and pirates of long ago, cash was coinage. Now you can own a piece of history!