Catalog
1/2 Penny Regal Imitation - George III left
| Issuer | Canadian provinces |
|---|---|
| Year | 1835 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 5.2 g |
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| Obverse description | Draped bust of King George III facing left, in the style of a regal halfpenny imitation. The effigy is rendered in low relief, with the portrait occupying the central field. The surrounding legend and finer details are heavily worn and largely illegible on surviving examples, consistent with the crude manufacture typical of this class of Canadian colonial imitation coinage. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Regal imitations occupied a legal grey zone in early nineteenth-century British North America. Parliament had repeatedly attempted to restrict the flood of private and imitation coinage into the colonies, but chronic shortages of authorized copper made enforcement effectively impossible. Merchants and importers simply continued shipping whatever token coinage would pass at face value.
The brass composition here, rather than copper, is the telling detail — a cost-cutting choice by whoever commissioned this piece, and the primary characteristic distinguishing BL-6 from related imitation types in the CCT series.