Newfoundland's 1865 gold coinage program required British approval before any pieces entered circulation, and the electrotype patterns produced that year were working tools of that approval process — struck or fabricated to demonstrate proposed designs to colonial and imperial authorities rather than for any commercial purpose. The block lettering variety of this two-dollar pattern represents an early typographic choice that was subsequently abandoned before the regular issue was authorized.
Only a handful of these electrotypes are documented. The KM#Pn1 designation places it at the very opening of Newfoundland's pattern series.
Newfoundland's 1865 gold coinage program required British approval before any pieces entered circulation, and the electrotype patterns produced that year were working tools of that approval process — struck or fabricated to demonstrate proposed designs to colonial and imperial authorities rather than for any commercial purpose. The block lettering variety of this two-dollar pattern represents an early typographic choice that was subsequently abandoned before the regular issue was authorized.
Only a handful of these electrotypes are documented. The KM#Pn1 designation places it at the very opening of Newfoundland's pattern series.