A.A.
India - 3 Annas

This copper token is larger than a farthing. Three annas would be equal to 4½d., or 18¾ cents, the price usually paid in Ceylon to a woman for picking half a bushel of clean coffee.

SPECIFICATIONS
Denomination pence
AlloyCopper
Diameter22.8 mm
Thickness1.3 mm
Weight3.35 gms
ShapeRound
EdgeGrained
DieAxis
aa_3anna_obverse aa_3anna_reverse
Lowsley #1 Pridmore #3

Obverse : A . A.

within a beaded circle inside raised rim.
Reverse : 3

ANNAS
within a beaded circle inside raised rim.

Lowsley states that this is the only token he met with for Ceylon which had Indian currency inscribed upon it. Number of tea plantations in South India, had issued 3 Anna tokens.
This token is now also listed in Pridmore, Part 4, India, Volume 2 4A A[nglo]-A[merican] direct tea trading co.
No company or estate can be traced in Ceylon whose name corresponds to the initials A.A., but research and the monetary value suggestions that it was issued by the Anglo-American Direct Tea Trading Co. Lt., Nellampatty, Malabar, S. India. The company were proprietors of tea, coffee, and cardamom estates in various districts of South India. They also had tea gardens in Assam. Their Calcutta agents were Finlay, Muir & Co.

Reference
* Coins and Tokens of Ceylon, Lieut. Col B. Lowsley, Num. Chron. Sr III Vol. XV, 1895.
* The Coins of British Commonwealth of Nations to the end of the reign of George VI 1952 Part 2 - Asian Territories by F. Pridmore Spink & Son Ltd., 1965.

The VF grade token was scanned at 300 dpi and the images are displayed at 250 dpi. It was purchased in 2003 April from NY-USA dealer. I thank S. K. Bose and Richard Anderson for ther replies to my questions about this token on SACG. This token was resold to a collector of Indian Tokens.