Catalog
10 Dollars - Gold pattern
| Issuer | British Columbia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1862 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The denomination 10 DOLLARS is displayed prominently at center within a wreath of laurel or olive branches, tied at the base with a ribbon bow. The date 1862 appears below the denomination within the wreath. Beneath the wreath tie, the engraver's initial signature KUNER A. is inscribed in the lower field. The wreath is finely detailed and frames the central legends in a symmetrical, balanced composition typical of mid-nineteenth century pattern coinage. |
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| Edge | Reeded |
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| Additional information |
British Columbia struck these pattern pieces in 1862 while under pressure from Governor James Douglas to establish a local coinage that would keep gold — then pouring out of the Fraser River and Cariboo goldfields — circulating within the colony rather than bleeding south into American commercial channels. The Colonial Office in London refused to sanction an official currency, so the patterns never advanced to production.
Fewer than a handful of confirmed specimens are known. Ch#Bc-3 is among the most rarely encountered of all Canadian provincial pattern issues.