George I Silver & Burst Bubbles
George I ‘South Sea Company’ 1723 silver sixpence, with ‘SSC’ in the arms. A fascinating story of coinage issued at a time of incredible national debt, burst stock bubbles, and a government bailout.
Multiple wars had driven the British economy to the brink, and the government was keen to reduce their reliance on a private bank that held a monopoly as a government lender. This private bank was the Bank of England, who comes out of this story a lot better than its rival.
The South Sea Company (SSC) was paid a yearly amount by the government in exchange for interest in the company and granted them a monopoly over trade with South America. Hence the company’s name, as ‘South Seas’ at the time exclusively related to the seas around South America.
The company was hugely involved in the slave trade, and was granted contracts to supply South America with slaves. The company knew that this trade was not profitable, but it knew that it also meant tonnes of illegal contraband could be smuggled into the Spanish colonies hidden within the ships and so it was more than happy to oblige. This, along with the ‘money laundering’ operation of avoiding Spanish excise, made for good shareholder profits - at first.
The silver trade was of considerable importance for both the SSC but also the British coinage of the time. In today’s money the value of goods on just one ship en route to South America could be £100,000,000, with much of this returning to England as silver. Reports at the time often stated “the richest ship that ever came to England” when describing the SSC cargos.
The bubble burst for SSC in 1720 and the government intervened. More than £30 million in today’s money of Bolivian/Peruvian silver was taken from the SSC and minted into coinage in 1723 - the only year that this particular coinage was struck. Even Sir Isaac Newton (once master of the Royal Mint) lost huge amounts in this debacle.
Given current political discussions around slave trade reparations and economic crashes across the globe, it seems a more relevant coin than ever!
Wanting to buy one of these pieces of history? Here's one on this website.