1 Penny Non-local/Trade and Navigation

Nova Scotia's chronic shortage of small change in the early nineteenth century created a vacuum filled largely by merchant tokens and imported coppers of dubious provenance. This piece belongs to a wave of trade tokens authorized by colonial merchants rather than by Crown decree — struck in Britain, almost certainly by Boulton's Soho Mint or one of its commercial competitors, and shipped across the Atlantic as working currency. The designation "Non-local/Trade and Navigation" signals that these circulated beyond Nova Scotia's borders, passing through the hands of sailors, fishermen, and coastal traders across the Maritime provinces.

Breton 962 is among the better-documented tokens of the series, appearing in early Canadian numismatic literature as far back as Joseph LeRoux's catalogue work in the 1880s.