Tatham & C^O, Colombo, Ceylon
Sudduwelle Mills

SPECIFICATIONS Denomination pence Alloy AE Diameter 29 mm Thickness  mm Weight 8.81 gms Shape round Edge Milled DieAxis O° Issue
Lowsley #33 Pridmore #102

Obv. -	COLOMBO TATHAM & C O. CEYLON	, in three lines, and with ornamental scrolls between the lines within beaded circle inside raised rim.
Rev. -	SUDDUWELLE MILLS	in two lines between ornamental scrolls, within beaded circle inside raised rim.

An extremely well-struck copper token, larger than a bronze halfpenny. The mills are said to have been at Slave Island, Colombo, and the tokens were doubtless issued under the usual conditions and circumstances.

TATHAM & CO. Very little can be traced of this firm. In 1843 a Robert Dawson established himself as a merchant, estate and coal agent. In 1854 Thomas Dickson joined him and the firm became Dawson, Dickson & Co. The partners parted company in 1860 and Thomas Dickson started the firm under the name Thomas Dickson & Co. with Christopher Tatham as partner. The name was again changed in 1863 to Dickson, Tatham & Co.
Tatham was a nephew of Duncan Dunbar, the millionaire owner of the Dunbar Line of first class sailing ships.
Thomas Dickson retired in the early 1860s and Tatham took over the entire business. The management of the firm under Christopher Tathain was not a success and it went into liquidation in 1866.
The Suduwelle Mills were at a later date the stores of Mackwoods & Co. The tokens appear to have been issued after Dickson left Ceylon in 1861 and while Tatham was the sole proprietor.

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. Tokens

The 600 dpi images are displayed at 200 dpi.
I thank Shiran Cruse, Kandy, Sri Lanka, for the scans of this token from his collection now with me.