1/2 Penny - Hanks and Lloyd Sydney, New South Wales

Hanks and Lloyd operated the Australian Tea Mart on George Street, Sydney, and issued these tokens in 1857 to address the chronic shortage of small change that plagued colonial New South Wales well before the Australian colonies had any unified coinage policy. British regal copper had largely ceased arriving in sufficient quantities, and what small change existed was hoarded, worn smooth, or simply inadequate for retail trade at the penny-and-halfpenny level.

Two die varieties are catalogued — Andrews 193 and 194 — distinguished by minor differences that have kept specialist collectors debating attribution for decades. The Gray 99a variant is notably scarcer in surviving examples.