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1 Penny British Colonies
| Issuer | Canadian provinces |
|---|---|
| Year | 1825 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Penny (1⁄240) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Unidentified male bust facing left, with curly hair and a plain coat, rendered in a neoclassical style. The legend BRITISH COLONIES arcs around the periphery, divided on either side of the effigy, reading from lower left to upper right. No royal portrait is named, as this token was issued privately rather than by royal authority. The field is smooth and unadorned save for the central portrait. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
This piece belongs to a category of semi-official colonial copper that circulated in the absence of any coordinated British North American coinage policy. London showed little urgency in supplying the provinces with small change, leaving merchants and local authorities to commission their own tokens — many struck in Birmingham by firms like Boulton & Watt's successors or Soho imitators working on private account. The 1825 date places this squarely in the period before the provincial legislatures began asserting tighter control over token issues.
The Breton 993 reference situates it within the broader Canadian token series documented by Pierre-Napoléon Breton in his 1894 catalogue, still the foundational reference for this collecting area.