Nova Scotia's penny tokens of this period were issued not by the Crown but under merchant pressure — the colony was chronically short of small change, and Halifax traders were already accepting a chaotic mix of counterfeits, cut coins, and imported American coppers. The provincial government contracted with Boulton & Watt's Soho Mint in Birmingham, the same facility that had revolutionized coin production for Britain itself decades earlier.
Breton 868 is the more frequently encountered variety in this series, though genuine worn examples are regularly confused with contemporary counterfeits struck in thinner, lighter planchets.
Nova Scotia's penny tokens of this period were issued not by the Crown but under merchant pressure — the colony was chronically short of small change, and Halifax traders were already accepting a chaotic mix of counterfeits, cut coins, and imported American coppers. The provincial government contracted with Boulton & Watt's Soho Mint in Birmingham, the same facility that had revolutionized coin production for Britain itself decades earlier.
Breton 868 is the more frequently encountered variety in this series, though genuine worn examples are regularly confused with contemporary counterfeits struck in thinner, lighter planchets.