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1/2 Penny - Jno. Andrew and Co Melbourne, Victoria
| Issuer | Jno. Andrew & Co, Melbourne |
|---|---|
| Year | 1862 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round |
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|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | The reverse depicts two native Australian fauna in profile at centre: an emu facing right (dexter) on the left side and a kangaroo facing left (sinister) on the right side, the two animals confronting each other over a grassy ground line. The engraver's name COARD LONDON appears in small letters along the lower inner border. The colonial name VICTORIA arcs along the upper legend within a beaded border, and the date 1862 is inscribed in the exergue below the central group. |
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| Additional information |
Jno. Andrew & Co. operated as a wholesale and retail ironmonger in Melbourne during the early 1860s, a period when acute small-change shortages across the Australian colonies drove hundreds of private traders to commission their own copper tokens. The Colonial government had neither the infrastructure nor the political will to supply sufficient low-denomination coinage, leaving commerce to fill the gap through tradesmen's tokens — a practice tolerated until the Queensland and Victorian token acts of the late 1860s effectively ended private issue.
Gray #12 is among the better-documented Melbourne ironmonger tokens, with die links traceable to the prolific Birmingham trade token producers supplying the Australian market at this time.