Description
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Hanks & Lloyd operated a business in Sydney under the name Australian Tea Mart.
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They issued trade tokens (often copper, denominated as pennies or half‐pennies) as a kind of merchant token / substitute currency, especially during times of coin scarcity in mid-19th century NSW.
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One of their tokens (a penny token) was recovered from the shipwreck of the Dunbar (wrecked 20 August 1857) because a batch of tokens en route to Australia was aboard that vessel.
Specifics & designs
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Obverse: “AUSTRALIAN TEA MART / SYDNEY” around edge, with “HANKS / AND / LLOYD” in the centre.
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Reverse: shows the NSW coat of arms (with emu & kangaroo), with inscriptions like “PEACE & PLENTY”, “ADVANCE AUSTRALIA”, and the date (e.g. 1857) below.
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The tokens were minted in London (by W.J. Taylor) and shipped to NSW.
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There were multiple varieties (different dies, dates) — e.g. 1855, 1857 issues.
