36. Gold Cup

Levant Gold Cup, 300gms solid gold.

Engraved with the arms of Sir William Trumbull, his wife Katherine, and of the Levant Company. This gold beaker was presented by the Levant Company to Katherine in 1687, on the occasion of their departure from Greenwich to Constantinople where Lord Trumbull had been appointed Ambassador.

The Company’s minute book records: “intimation being given that the Lady was in expectation of a present as her Ladyship had understood other Ambassadors Lady’s had had.  A piece of gold plate to the value of about £60 (about £7000 in today’s money) was procured.” The ambassador received his salary from the Levant Co.

The Levant company received its royal charter in 1581 with a mission to trade with the Ottoman Empire and the Levant with depots in Aleppo, Constantinople, Alexandria and Smrna (Izmir).  England exported cloth, tin, pewter & lead and imported silks, velvet, carpets medicinal drugs & opium, spices, dried fruit and soda ash. At its peak in the 1820s 100 ships a year were coming to Britain. Pirates and Spanish privateering were a major problem for the Levant Co. This cup weighs 300gms and is 10 cms high and 10cms dia at the mouth.