1/2 Penny - E.F. Dease Launceston: Tasmania

E.F. Dease operated a hardware and ironmongery business in Launceston during the 1850s, a period when acute small-change shortages across the Australian colonies forced individual merchants to commission their own token coinage. These pieces were struck privately in Britain — almost certainly by one of the Birmingham trade token manufacturers — and shipped out for local circulation. The Andrews, Ramsden, and Gray references all catalogue this piece, though population estimates remain low and survivor counts across collections are inconsistent.