Hi, Would be interested in opinions on grade/value. I have seen an eBay auction of a very similar looking coin listed as BR 984; Salamanca; WE-12. Can anyone confirm this? Canadian?
These, along with other types are sometimes called Wellington Tokens, are really categorized as "Penninsular Tokens". They really aren't Canadian .. more properly they are British or Spanish. They were struck for Wellington's British army to pay his troops for use in Spain and Portugal (the pennisula). The coins were brought to Canada by troops sent over to fight the Americans during the War of 1812. Other tokens of the same general type have either the Reverse (halfpennies) or Obverse (pennies) with legends carrying the names of famous battles where Wellington defeated Napolean. My 5th Edition of Charlton's "Colonial Tokens" (2003?)says VF=$75 & EF=$125 in Canadian dollars (but the dollar exchange rate then was #1 US = $1.50 Canadian
Bill, many thanks for the clarification - really interesting provenance! I note the Canadian dollar has achieved parity with the US now. Not quite sure how this and the 2003 date would affect the value but looks like the token is worth a bit more than I thought.
In the WE-12 that you mentioned above, the "WE" stands for Wellington and used by Charlton publishers, the class of Canadian Tokens that these are categorized under. Some have a portrait of Wellington in this group, but all the Wellington's, including yours, were privately minted for payments to the troops during Britain's Wars with Napolean. The Penninsular Tokens were those struck for Battles fought in Spain & Portugal .. Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Madrid, Busaco, etc. Your token is also ID'd as Br 984(Breton), CO 23W(Courteneau) or W 520(Wiley), depending on whose numerical ID system that you are using.
