1 Penny - Iredale and Co. Sydney, New South Wales

Iredale & Co. operated as a general merchant in colonial Sydney during the 1850s and 1860s, a period when the New South Wales government chronically failed to supply sufficient small-denomination coinage for everyday retail transactions. Private traders filled the gap by commissioning token pennies from British die-sinkers — primarily in Birmingham — which then circulated locally by informal community acceptance rather than any legal authority. Iredale's tokens are catalogued under at least six die varieties, reflecting either multiple ordering runs or deliberate experimentation with reverse types, which was not unusual among Sydney merchants hedging against token rejection.