Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1/2 Penny Ships, colonies and commerce - bust design
| Issuer | Lower Canada |
|---|---|
| Year | 1815-1816 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1/2 Penny (1⁄480) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Draped bust of a male figure facing right, depicted with curled hair and a cravat at the collar, rendered in a plain unidentified portrait style characteristic of early 19th-century colonial token coinage. The effigy is set within a plain field bordered by a continuous beaded inner rim. No legend or inscription accompanies the portrait. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | SHIPS COLONIES & COMMERCE |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The "Ships, Colonies and Commerce" tokens flooded into Lower Canada during the second decade of the nineteenth century to fill a chronic shortage of official small change — the Royal Mint showed little interest in supplying copper coinage to the colonies, leaving commerce to fend for itself. Hundreds of die varieties exist across the broader token family, struck by private contractors in Birmingham with minimal oversight and wildly inconsistent quality control.
The Breton 1002 attribution places this among the better-documented bust varieties, though distinguishing authentic period strikes from later restrikes remains a persistent problem with this series.