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1 Penny - Joseph Moir Hobart, Tasmania
| Issuer | Joseph Moir |
|---|---|
| Year | 1862 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 34 mm |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is entirely typographic in design, with no pictorial elements. The peripheral legend reads 'ECONOMY HOUSE' arching across the upper field and 'MURRY STREET' along the lower arc, both separated by a beaded border running the circumference of the token. Within the central field, five lines of raised capital lettering read 'ONE / PENNY TOKEN / PAYABLE / ON DEMAND / HERE', presented in progressively weighted sans-serif lettering characteristic of mid-nineteenth-century Australian tradesman's tokens. The overall design reflects the utilitarian commercial purpose of the piece as a redeemable one-penny trade token issued at the Economy House premises on Murray Street, Hobart Town. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Joseph Moir operated a hardware and ironmongery business in Hobart, and his 1862 penny token was struck at a moment when colonial Tasmania faced a chronic shortage of official small change — the same shortage that drove dozens of Australian merchants to commission private copper tokens throughout the 1850s and 1860s. Moir's issue is catalogued across four major reference works, suggesting it circulated widely enough to survive in meaningful numbers.
The tokens were most likely struck in Birmingham, the source of the vast majority of Australian merchant copper from this period.