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1/2 Penny - Crothers & Co Stawell
| Issuer | Crothers & Co. |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Pound sterling (1788-1900) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is entirely text-based, with no figurative or symbolic devices. The field carries the legend THE ORIGINAL CASH STORE in three lines of bold raised Roman capitals, separated from the address below by a decorative rule with a central pellet. The lower portion of the field bears the address MAIN ST. STAWELL in two further lines. The whole is enclosed within a beaded inner border and a plain rim, consistent with the typographic style of Victorian Australian tradesman's halfpenny tokens. |
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| Additional information |
Crothers & Co. operated as a general merchant in Stawell, Victoria, during the 1860s token boom that emerged from chronic small-change shortages in the Australian colonies. The British government's reluctance to supply sufficient regal coinage to meet colonial demand created a vacuum that private traders filled with copper tokens — legally ambiguous but commercially essential. Stawell itself was a goldfields town, growing rapidly after alluvial finds in the Pleasant Creek area from 1853, which meant transactional volume far outpaced available currency.
Andrews #89 is a well-documented variety within the Victorian merchant token series.