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'Cigar' type copper ingot recovered from the wreck of the East Indiaman EARL OF ABERGAVENNY, wrecked Weymouth 1805.

Ingot of ‘Japan copper’ recovered from the wreck of the East Indiaman EARL OF ABERGAVENNY. The ship wrecked in Weymouth in 1805, on its way to India.

The ship was licensed by the East India Company, a trading company with a monopoly over trade between Britain and parts of Asia, including India and China. The company looted and colonised modern-day Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and Pakistan, increasing their power and wealth in the process. Enslaved African and Asian people were transported and used for labour by the company.

Copper in this ingot was smelted in Wales - a process involving heating and melting ore to obtain the metal it contains. Ingots were a ‘semi-finished’ product, exported across the globe to be manufactured into finished metal products by local craftspeople. In India, copper ingots were commonly used to produce copper or brass utensils and pots. An ingot this size would be worth the equivalent of around 5p today.

The shape of this ingot was initially produced in Japan for trade to India. The East India Company commissioned Welsh smelters to replicate ‘Japan copper’ ingots so that they could meet the demand for this kind of copper ingot. This product was much cheaper and eventually displaced the original Japanese copper in the Indian market.

[Description updated in collaboration with members of Chai & Chat (Swansea CVS), July 2024]