1/2 Penny Regal Imitation - George III left

These brass imitations of British regal halfpennies flooded Lower Canada during the 1820s and 1830s to fill a chronic shortage of authorized small change. They were produced privately — almost certainly in Birmingham — and entered circulation without any official sanction, tolerated simply because nothing else was available. The CCT BL-13 designation places this piece within Breton and Courteau's classification of the so-called "blacksmith" and imitation series, a loose grouping of unofficial coppers that dominated petty commerce in the St. Lawrence valley for decades.