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1/2 Penny - Hanks and Compy. Sydney, New South Wales
| Issuer | Hanks and Company, Sydney |
|---|---|
| Year | 1857 |
| Type | Emergency coin |
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| Reverse description | The reverse is entirely typographic in design, with the merchant's name HANKS AND COMPY. boldly rendered in raised serif capitals across the central field in three lines. The circular legend AUSTRALIAN TEA MART encircles the upper periphery, while SYDNEY appears at the base, with decorative stops separating the elements. The whole is enclosed within a beaded border, reflecting the tradesman's token convention common to colonial Australian commerce of the 1850s. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Hanks and Company operated as a hardware merchant on George Street, Sydney, and issued this token during a period when the colonial government of New South Wales had failed entirely to supply adequate small change. British regal copper had largely vanished from circulation by the mid-1850s, absorbed by hoarding and export, leaving tradespeople to fill the gap themselves. The merchant token trade in Australia peaked sharply around 1857–1858 before the introduction of imperial decimal bronze in 1860 rendered the whole category obsolete almost overnight.
The Andrews and Renniks references place this among the more readily attributed Sydney tradesman pieces, though the "Compy." abbreviation on the die is an idiosyncratic contraction not used consistently across the firm's issues.