Ivory trade token

This is possibly an ivory trade token, 133 mm in diameter, and inscribed 'John Pepper Brig Highfield, A Good Man'. The significance of trade tokens is yet to be established, but they were presumably used as pledges or receipts. This one, however, may be a bracelet identifying John Pepper, an enslaved member of the crew of the brig 'Highfield' as "a good man".

Credit/copyright
© National Museums Liverpool

Accession number
National Museums Liverpool, Maritime Collection 4427M

Themes
Trade and Commerce
Africa Before Transatlantic Enslavement