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1 Penny Wilson, A.S. - Dunedin
| Issuer | A.S. Wilson, Dunedin |
|---|---|
| Year | 1857 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 34 mm |
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| Obverse description | A robed female figure seated facing right, her right arm raised and extending a balance scale into the field, her left arm cradling a cornucopia. In the left background, a sailing ship is depicted at sea. The legend NEW ZEALAND arcs vertically along the right border within the beaded rim, and the date 1857 appears in the exergue below the central device. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
A.S. Wilson operated a general store in Dunedin during the chaotic early years of Otago's European settlement, when the colony's chronic shortage of small change forced merchants to commission their own copper tokens from British die-sinkers — almost always from the firm of J. R. Gaunt in Birmingham. New Zealand had no mint of its own, and official British coinage arrived irregularly and in insufficient quantities. Merchant tokens like this one filled the gap in daily commerce for roughly a decade before the introduction of a proper colonial coinage rendered them obsolete.
Roper's reference 599 places this squarely within the documented Otago merchant series.