Catalog
1/2 Penny Currency - Victoria
| Issuer | New Brunswick |
|---|---|
| Year | 1854 |
| 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 |
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| Technique | Milled |
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| Obverse description | Bare-headed effigy of Queen Victoria facing left, her hair swept back and gathered in ringlets at the nape, engraved in the early Victorian style by Leonard Charles Wyon. The circumferential legend VICTORIA DEI GRATIA REGINA arcs around the upper field, with the date 1854 positioned centrally in the lower exergue. The portrait is rendered in fine relief against a flat field, bordered by a continuous dentillated inner rim. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
New Brunswick's copper currency pieces of 1854 were struck at the Royal Mint in London under provincial authorization — the colony had no mint of its own and relied entirely on contracted British production for its circulating coinage. The "Currency" designation in the series name distinguishes these issues from contemporaneous "Halfpenny Token" pieces, a legal distinction that mattered locally even if the coins circulated interchangeably in practice.
Breton 912 is among the better-documented New Brunswick types, though die alignment and edge treatment variations exist within the issue. New Brunswick ceased issuing its own coinage after Confederation in 1867, making the provincial series short-lived by any measure.