Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(UK Und.) money.

1612		Passenger of Benvenuto n.p.: Those companions, who in the phisionomie of their forehead, eyes and nose, carry the impression and marke of the pillerie galley, and of the halter, they call the purse, a leafe, and a fleece; money, cuckoes, and aste and crowns [N].
1822		R. Nares Gloss. (1888) I 38: aste. An old cant term for money.