1/2 Penny George III right

This piece belongs to a category of semi-official copper and brass tokens that flooded Lower Canada during the 1830s, issued by merchants and entrepreneurs to address a chronic shortage of small change that colonial authorities repeatedly failed to solve. The Bank of Montreal and other institutions eventually attempted to regulate the token trade, but private issues continued circulating freely alongside — and often indistinguishably from — sanctioned coinage.

CCT BL-14 is a Bouquet Sou type, struck in Birmingham by contract. The brass composition rather than copper is worth noting: it distinguishes this emission from visually similar pieces and occasionally causes misattribution in mixed lots.