I've just come upon an estate and it has an oddball. Just can't find it in any of my ref books. (Sorry, no scan/pic) Obverse(?) = Bank of Upper Canada (around top) image of St. George slaying the dragon (centered image) 1857 (at bottom) Reverse(?) = Bank Token (around top) image is a crest like design of two powder horns at bottom, two crossed fouled anchors in center, topped with a crown (centered image) One Penny (at bottom) This coin is holed and the "chaff" from drilling has been hammerd down. The hole is across the "NN" in PENNY and "R C" in UPPER CANADA. Any help in identifying and valuation would be appreciated. Brent
Brent, I don't believe it's a high dollar item, and I'm sure the hole doesn't help. Here's a few links that might help: LINK #1 LINK #2 LINK #3 LINK #4
I see these routinely. They come in collections or estates. These were made in penny and half-penny denominations. I think this year so far I've had 2 or 3 of them. And for some reason they almost always come holed or heavily worn. All of the ones I've seen have been dated in the 1850's. Last month I had a pretty nice vf/xf example that I sold for $11. The ugly ones I usually try to sell for about $5. Hope this info helps. Nick
I've sold about a dozen of them on Ebay. The have gone between .99c and 8.00 for one's without holds. They are very collectible but not expensive. I once heard that they are frequently holed because people used to nail them to walls. I have no idea if that is true or not. If I had a holed one, I would most likely put that in a damaged bulk lot. Hope that helps. - Hal
The Bank of Upper Canada's tokens are very interesting,as they are affectionately known as St George Pieces.They were issued in 2 denominations - 1/2d. & 1d. The first ones are dated 1850,which exist only in medal alignment.Some of the 1d.'s have a dot between the cornucopiae tips,but the significance of this is uncertain.In 1852,there are 2 main varieties.The clue is in the alignment.If it is in 'medal alignment' (heads & tails upright),then the piece was struck at the Royal Mint in London, England.If it is in 'coin alignment' (heads & tails upside down in relation to one another),then the piece was struck at Heaton's Mint in Birmingham, England.The 1857's are very underrated pieces,as very few of them were actually issued prior to Canada's decimal changeover,which occurred in 1858.I had to wait years to get them.A pair of them turned up in a Wellington Coin Club auction, so I bought them.The letters 'RK & Co' is not a mintmark.This is the mark of Rowe,Kentish,& Co., who were the agents that the coin orders were put through.
I bought a few of these about a year ago, both half penny and penny. My recollection was that all of them were probably F/VF/EF and priced between $5 and $9 depending on condition. The hole will most likely decrease the value a lot because it is easy to buy fairly nice circulated coins.
Does this look like bronze to you? . Look in an edition of Krause taht pertains to the 19th century, the 1800's, in Canada and find Upper Canada which was a province. It's a special case and one of the small number of tokens listed in Krause. I looked in Krause again tonight, and I own several of these tokens. ------------------------------------- The catalog number in Krause is KM# Tn2 for the half penny tokens 1850-57. Mintage figures run from high of 750,000,000 examples of the 1852 half penny, and 750,000 in 1850 and 1854, ----------------- The catalog number for the one penny tokens is KM#Tn3 for the copper penny tokens of 1850-57. I have one that stuck out upon reviewing the mintage figures after looking up Upper Canada. There were 1,854 bronze tokens (KM# Tn3a) struck in 1854 and an indication that some were struck in 1857, but no mintage figures or prices are listed. But if none were struck an 1857 date would not appear there, would it? Perhaps there were a fewer than the 1,854 struck in 1854. No prices are listed for any of the bronze one penny tokens (KM# Tn3a) Perhaps mine is a rarer-than-I-thought bronze proof, or prooflike. Hmm... Obviously struck at Heaton in London and the last year of issue for the series. Hmm... MY $200 max bid and my auction victory at $31.50 USF seems pretty good right now. Thanks for making me refer to Krause again. Good news, I think, that I had not so fully understood before. : ) .
