Click-bait title engaged! :)
Am I talking about the hottest new crypto on the market? Or another airdrop? NO! I am talking about the East India Company x Cash coin.
🔝This is the reverse of the x cash coin featuring a Persian inscription giving the coins value in India.
The obverse, not in such good condition, features a coat of arms awarded to the East India Company by the English Crown in 1698
These East India Company coins are purported to be the first in the world struck on a steam driven coin press. They were minted in Birmingham, England at the Soho Mint, owned by Matthew Boulton. I'm sure some of you may know this but Boulton and his former business partner James Watt, were among 5he earliest pioneers in the development of the steam engine.
This particular coin was one of many on board the Admiral Gardner when it wrecked and sank in 60 feet of water on the Goodwin Sands in the English Channel on January 25th, 1809. Seven men lost their lives less than 4 miles from the shore.
If you are not familiar with the Goodwin Sands, it is a treacherous bank of sandbars just off the English Coast and had the nickname, "The Shipswallower"
When it went down it had a cargo of anchors, cannonballs, copper ingots, iron bars and a shipment of new copper coins. The 1808 X Cash coin. This payload, unlike the Spanish treasure galleons filled with gold and silver, was deemed not worthy of the risk and effort of salvage, and remained undisturbed on the seabed for 176 years. She was discovered in 1984 and the payload salvaged in 1985.
I picked this coin up when I was visiting New Orleans in 2012 as a gift for my son. This may be the first coin of my stacking career! :)
Have a great week!
