Catalog
1/2 Penny Thomas Halliday
| Issuer | Lower Canada |
|---|---|
| Year | 1812 |
| Type | Emergency coin |
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| Obverse description | Draped bust of a female figure, facing right, her hair loosely dressed and gathered at the nape, enclosed within a prominent wreath border of olive or laurel leaves that frames the entire central field. No peripheral legend is present; the design relies entirely on the classical effigy and the decorative wreath border engraved in the style characteristic of Thomas Halliday's Birmingham workshop. The bust is rendered in moderate relief with fine detail in the drapery folds at the shoulder, consistent with the neoclassical aesthetic prevalent in early nineteenth-century Canadian trade token coinage. |
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| Reverse lettering | HALF PENNY TOKEN 1812 |
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| Additional information |
Halliday operated as a hardware merchant in Montreal, and like many colonial tradesmen of the period, issued his own copper tokens to address the chronic small-change shortage that plagued Lower Canada when official British coin supply repeatedly failed to meet demand. The colony's reliance on merchant-issued token coinage was so entrenched by 1812 that private pieces effectively formed the backbone of everyday retail transactions.
The Withers reference places this among a well-documented sub-series of Montreal merchant tokens, several of which share dies or were struck by common contractors in Birmingham.