1 Penny - Coombes, S. Auckland

Samuel Coombes operated as a general storekeeper in Auckland during the early 1870s, issuing these tokens at a moment when New Zealand's colonial coinage supply remained chronically inadequate for retail trade. The 1874 date places this firmly in the final years of meaningful token production in the colony — the Coinage Act of 1881 would effectively end private token circulation. Andrews catalogues three distinct varieties (86–88), differentiated by die characteristics, which suggests Coombes ordered multiple strikings, likely from different Birmingham die-cutters supplying the colonial market.