PERU Copper 1870 Token 1/2 - Haciendas de Enrique Swayne 17 mm (30 050)

Peru Republic 1870 Token -

Haciendas de Enrique Swayne .Copper

Value 1/2 .

17mm

Obverse Text Elements: Typically features the name "HACIENDAS DE ENRIQUE SWAYNE"

Reverse  :the denomination (1/2) and the year 1870

The item you are referencing is a historic 19th-century Peruvian plantation token (known locally as a ficha de hacienda) issued in 1870 for use within the agricultural estates owned by Henry (Enrique) Swayne.

The Issuer: Henry Swayne (1800–1877) was a prominent Scottish businessman who settled in Peru in 1824. He acquired and modernized several coastal estates (haciendas).His primary operations were located in the Cañete Valley within the Lima Province. He operated four interconnected plantations specializing in highly profitable cash crops: sugar cane and cotton

During this period, remote Peruvian plantations suffered from a chronic shortage of official national currency. To pay workers—many of whom were Chinese indentured laborers (coolies) and local farmers—haciendas minted private tokens. These tokens could only be redeemed for goods at the plantation's company store (tienda de raya), effectively trapping laborers in a closed economic