Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3051 8-9 January 2017
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Canada
Lower Canada copper "Blacksmith" 1/2 Penny Token ND (c.1835) VF Details (Environmental Damage) PCGS Genuine, BL-29 (Extremely Rare), Br-unlisted, Wiley-347. Struck in coin rotation. Bust of George III facing right. Rev. Crowned harp within a wreath. An extremely crudely struck piece, as made, with only partial legends and porous surfaces. An exceedingly rare issue and the only example of the type certified by PCGS. The only example that we can reference of this issue. Ex. John Temple Collection.
Sometime around 1835, a rather corrupt, and thirsty, blacksmith in Montreal began to produce 1/2 Pennies to pay for his alcohol consumption. Instead of producing quality copies of the tokens, he left them in an unfinished state so that they would appear as very worn tokens. He then darkened his copies to give an appearance of a worn, aged token. His one error was to cut his dies as he saw on the tokens he copied, so that when his pieces were struck the images were reversed. There was a token shortage in Lower Canada, therefore his tokens passed readily among merchants, and we suspect he slowly drank himself into a state of stupor.
Estimate: 8000-10000 USD
Lower Canada copper "Blacksmith" 1/2 Penny Token ND (c.1835) VF Details (Environmental Damage) PCGS Genuine, BL-29 (Extremely Rare), Br-unlisted, Wiley-347. Struck in coin rotation. Bust of George III facing right. Rev. Crowned harp within a wreath. An extremely crudely struck piece, as made, with only partial legends and porous surfaces. An exceedingly rare issue and the only example of the type certified by PCGS. The only example that we can reference of this issue. Ex. John Temple Collection.
Sometime around 1835, a rather corrupt, and thirsty, blacksmith in Montreal began to produce 1/2 Pennies to pay for his alcohol consumption. Instead of producing quality copies of the tokens, he left them in an unfinished state so that they would appear as very worn tokens. He then darkened his copies to give an appearance of a worn, aged token. His one error was to cut his dies as he saw on the tokens he copied, so that when his pieces were struck the images were reversed. There was a token shortage in Lower Canada, therefore his tokens passed readily among merchants, and we suspect he slowly drank himself into a state of stupor.
Estimate: 8000-10000 USD