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1 Penny - Day and Mieville Dunedin
| Issuer | Day & Mieville, Merchants, Dunedin |
|---|---|
| Year | 1857 |
| Type | Emergency coin |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse bears a bold, plain inscription arranged in four lines across the central field, reading DAY & MIEVILLE at the top, followed by MERCHANTS, then DUNEDIN, and OTAGO at the base. The lettering is deeply struck in sans-serif capitals, without any additional pictorial devices or ornamentation. A continuous beaded border frames the entire design, consistent with the obverse treatment. The layout is straightforward and commercial in character, identifying the issuing merchants and their location in the Otago province of New Zealand. |
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| Reverse lettering | DAY & MIEVILLE MERCHANTS DUNEDIN OTAGO |
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| Additional information |
Day & Mieville were general merchants operating in Dunedin during Otago's gold rush years, and like dozens of other provincial traders they commissioned token coinage to address the chronic shortage of small change that plagued New Zealand's colonial economy throughout the 1850s. The British government was slow to supply official copper to the colonies, leaving merchants to fill the gap themselves — tokens of this kind circulated with broad local acceptance, if no legal authority.
This piece was struck in Birmingham, almost certainly by the Heaton Mint, which supplied the majority of New Zealand's merchant token issues during this period.