Crowns, half crowns, shillings and sixpences were struck in 1723 bearing the initials of the South Sea Company on the reverse. The company obtained large quantities of silver bullion from trading off the west coast of South America and Indonesia. The silver sold by the company to the mint alleviated some of the enormous financial damage caused by the South Sea Company over inflated trading of its public shares leading to the burst of the ‘South Sea Bubble’ in September 1720 when its shares collapsed from £1,000 to £150.