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1 Penny - Moubray Lush & Co. Drapers - Melbourne, Victoria
| Issuer | Moubray Lush & Co. |
|---|---|
| Year | 1855 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Milled |
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|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | MOUBRAY LUSH & CO- DRAPERS MELBOURNE |
| Reverse description | A standing allegorical figure of Justice, blindfolded and draped, faces left while holding a balance scale in her right hand. In the background, a sailing vessel is depicted underway to the left, evoking the maritime commerce of colonial Australia. The circumferential legend AUSTRALIA appears around the periphery within a beaded border, providing the sole inscription on this face. |
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| Additional information |
Moubray Lush & Co. operated as drapers in Melbourne during the acute small-change shortage that followed the Victorian gold rushes of the early 1850s. The colonial banking system was simply unprepared for the sudden population explosion — Melbourne's headcount had roughly tripled between 1851 and 1855 — and the official copper coinage arriving from Britain was perpetually inadequate. Merchants across the colony issued their own copper tokens as a practical solution, and drapers in particular, dealing in small retail transactions, had more reason than most to manufacture a workable substitute.
This piece references Andrews #391, placing it within a well-documented but finite series of Victorian merchant tokens catalogued extensively by W.J. Taylor's original commissions.