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1/2 Penny commercial change
| Issuer | Lower Canada |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Round |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Draped civilian bust of an unidentified male figure facing right, with naturalistically rendered curly hair and a cravat at the neck. The truncation is sharp and squared, consistent with early nineteenth-century token engraving conventions. The field is plain and unlettered, with no legend or inscription present. The entire design is enclosed within a continuous dotted border running along the inner rim. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse lettering | COMMERCIAL CHANGE |
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| Additional information |
Lower Canada's chronic shortage of authorised small change in the early nineteenth century created a vacuum filled almost entirely by private merchant tokens. This piece circulated not by government sanction but by commercial necessity — accepted because nothing better was available. The colonial administration repeatedly failed to organise an adequate regal copper supply, leaving tradesmen and banks to issue their own copper on whatever terms the market would bear.
Breton 1007 is among the more frequently encountered of the Lower Canada merchant issues, suggesting it saw genuine heavy use before paper small change eventually displaced copper tokens in the 1850s.