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1 Penny - Lewis Abrahams Hobart, Tasmania
| Issuer | Lewis Abrahams |
|---|---|
| Year | 1855 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | Andrews#1, R#1, Gray#1, KM#Tn7 |
| Obverse description | Within a continuous beaded border, the field displays two native Tasmanian fauna facing one another: to the left, a Tasmanian emu (or cassowary) standing amid low grasses, and to the right, a kangaroo in a seated rearing posture beside a clump of reeds. The legend TASMANIA arcs boldly along the upper periphery in serifed capital letters, while the date 1855 appears in the lower exergual area, all executed in a vigorous low-relief engraving style characteristic of mid-nineteenth-century colonial trade tokens produced by W.J. Taylor of London. |
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Lewis Abrahams operated a clothing and general goods business in Hobart during the mid-1850s, a period when chronic coin shortages across the Australian colonies forced merchants to issue their own copper tokens to make change. The colonial authorities tolerated this practice rather than endorsed it, and most such tokens were struck in Birmingham by a handful of specialist diesinkers exporting to the Pacific trade.
Andrews #1 is the foundational listing for Tasmanian tokens, and Abrahams' penny holds the first position in every major reference — a reflection of its primacy in the series, not its rarity.