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1 Penny - Rocke, G. and W. H. Melbourne, Victoria
| Issuer | G. and W. H. Rocke |
|---|---|
| Year | 1859 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | 2 mm |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | G & W. H. ROCKE 18 LONSDALE STREET EAST MELBOURNE ENGLISH FURNITURE IMPORTERS |
| Reverse description | A classically draped allegorical female figure, representing Commerce or Justice, is seated facing left in the central field, holding a balance scale in her outstretched right hand and resting her left hand upon a merchant's barrel; additional trade goods including cannon balls are scattered at her feet, and a sailing vessel appears in the left background. The date 1859 is engraved in the exergue below the ground line. A beaded inner border encircles the central device, with the peripheral legend MELBOURNE VICTORIA arching across the upper field between the inner and outer beaded rims. |
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| Additional information |
The Rocke brothers operated one of Melbourne's most prominent ironmongery and hardware businesses during the Victorian gold rush years, when the colonial government's chronic failure to supply adequate small change left merchants issuing their own copper tokens as a practical necessity. G. and W. H. Rocke's penny tokens circulated widely across the city and are catalogued across four die varieties — Andrews 464 through 467 — reflecting multiple production runs, almost certainly from Birmingham diesinkers supplying the Australian colonial trade in bulk.
The Gray 243a-c subvarieties distinguish differences in the positioning and spacing of lettering, details that matter considerably to specialists in Australian colonial tokens.