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1/2 Penny Victoria Nobis Est
| Issuer | Lower Canada |
|---|---|
| Year | 1811-1813 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | 1.74 mm |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | Britannia seated to the left, holding an olive branch in her right hand and a long sceptre or spear in her left, with the Union shield resting at her side. A sailing vessel is depicted in the distant background to the right, symbolizing British maritime power. In the exergue, crossed laurel sprigs adorn the lower field. The peripheral legend HALFPENNY TOKEN encircles the design within a beaded border, identifying the piece as a privately issued colonial token. |
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| Additional information |
The "Nobis Est" tokens were issued by a consortium of Quebec merchants frustrated by the chronic shortage of small change circulating in Lower Canada during the Napoleonic Wars, when copper shipments from Britain were unreliable and official colonial coinage essentially nonexistent. The Latin phrase on these pieces — roughly "it is ours" — was a pointed assertion of local commercial authority to fill the void that imperial administrators had left.
The Withers reference places this among a well-documented family of merchant tokens, though die varieties within the Nobis Est series show enough inconsistency in workmanship to suggest multiple engravers or production runs across the three-year window.