1 Penny - Whitty and Brown Sydney, New South Wales

Whitty & Brown operated as general merchants in Sydney during the mid-1850s, a period when the colonial government had utterly failed to supply sufficient small change for everyday retail trade. The gold rushes had pulled specie out of circulation and into the diggings, leaving shopkeepers across New South Wales to commission their own copper tokens from private diesinkers — often in London — simply to make transactions under a shilling possible.

The multiple die varieties catalogued under Andrews and Renniks reflect at least four distinct strikings, suggesting the firm reordered on more than one occasion.