Catalog
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| Issuer | Lower Canada |
|---|---|
| Year | 1835-1838 |
| Type | Emergency coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
The Belleville tokens take their name from the Belleville, Ontario foundry of James Milne, though the precise contracting arrangements behind their production remain murky. They circulated in Lower Canada during a period when the colonial government's chronic failure to provide adequate small change had left the market flooded with private and semi-private copper — much of it imported speculatively from Britain and struck to varying weights with no official sanction.
The leaf and shamrock count variants (this being the 16-leaf / 7-shamrock die combination catalogued by Breton) exist because multiple die pairs were cut without strict standardization, making die attribution the primary tool for distinguishing genuine varieties from later restrikes.