London Tea Auction

The London Tea Auction was a candle auction of tea, that ran regularly for over 300 years from 1679 until its closure on 29 June 1998. The auction made London the centre for tea's international trade. The East India Company held the first auction in Leadenhall Street and then in 1834 - after the East India Company ceased to be a commercial enterprise - the auction was held on Mincing Lane.

To the uninitiated a Tea sale appears to be a mere arena in which the comparative strength of the lungs of a portion of his Majesty´s subjects are to be tried. No one could for an instant suspect the real nature of the business for which the assemblage was congregated...