Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1/2 Penny - Ashton, H. Auckland
| Issuer | H. Ashton, Auckland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1858 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Trade tokens (1857-1881) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A seated female allegorical figure, representing Commerce or Britannia, is depicted facing left, holding a balance scale in her right hand and a cornucopia in her left. A sailing ship appears in the background to the right, symbolising maritime trade. The date 1859 appears within the design, and the legend NEW ZEALAND encircles the composition within a beaded border. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | 1858 - A19/R25 - `N` of `ASHTON` over `E` of `IMPORTER` - 1858 - A20/R26 - `N` of `ASHTON` over `R` of `IMPORTER` - |
| Additional information |
H. Ashton operated a grocery and provision business in Auckland during the late 1850s, a period when the colonial government had failed to supply sufficient small-denomination coinage for everyday retail transactions. Merchants across New Zealand resorted to commissioning private tradesman's tokens from British die-sinkers — primarily in Birmingham — to make change possible at all. Ashton's halfpenny tokens correspond to Andrews numbers 19 and 20, indicating two distinct die varieties were struck for the same issuer.
The Birmingham connection is consistent with nearly all New Zealand merchant tokens of this period; local striking capacity simply did not exist in the colony.