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1 Penny Non-local/Trade and Navigation
| Issuer | Nova Scotia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1814 |
| Type | Emergency coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | A seated allegorical female figure, representing Commerce or Trade, occupies the central field, facing left in a graceful neoclassical pose. In her extended left hand she holds an olive branch, while her right arm rests upon a caduceus — the winged staff of Mercury, symbol of commerce — with a bale or coil of rope at her side. In the left field background, a small sailing vessel is visible near the horizon, alluding to maritime trade. The peripheral legend TRADE & NAVIGATION arcs across the upper portion of the coin within a beaded border, with the date 1814 displayed in the lower exergue beneath a horizontal rule. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse features a bold, centrally placed inscription ONE PENNY TOKEN arranged in three horizontal lines within a raised circular frame, itself enclosed within a beaded border. The surrounding annular legend reads PURE COPPER PREFERABLE TO PAPER, separated by a raised dot, running continuously around the circumference between the beaded rim and the inner circle — a forthright declaration asserting the superiority of copper coinage over the depreciated paper currency of the era. The overall design is stark and typographic, with no pictorial elements, lending the token a utilitarian character consistent with its emergency currency purpose. |
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| Additional information |
Nova Scotia's chronic shortage of small change in the early nineteenth century was met largely by private tokens and imported copper rather than official colonial issue. This piece falls into the merchant token category — circulating by necessity and mutual acceptance rather than legal authority. The "Trade and Navigation" inscription was a conventional formula borrowed from British Treasury copper, lending these pieces an air of official sanction they technically lacked.
Breton 962 is well-documented as a non-local import, almost certainly struck in Birmingham by one of the private die-sinkers supplying the colonial token trade.