After doing a bit of research, I came across the following 6 possibilities in my Canadian Tokens & Medals book: The die combinations are 713 (the reverse, with "Un Sous") & C8 to C13:
Here are blow-ups of the pictures, as I had trouble making head or tails of the descriptions: 713/C8 Straight Stem Variety:
Since this coin is in well circulated condition (G4 to VG8, I would guess), and the varieties are tricky to tell apart even in high grades, I've stared at this for a while. Which variety do you think this is? I think I've nailed down a particular ID, but would like to get your opinion. Also, what are these tokens worth? From the story I read, these were the first Canadian coins to carry a Maple leaf, and were minted around 1835. The "Un Sous" denomination was a typo - at this time, there was a law requiring all currency be imported from the UK for use in Upper Canada, and the British firm that made these tokens was apparently unfamiliar with the French-Canadian denomination of a "Sou". The Bank of Montreal's order was written in flowery cursive, and the engraver saw an extra "-s". Despite the typo, they were widely accepted and circulated in Upper Canada due to a severe shortage of coin.
It's kind of hard to tell, the stem looks short enough that it disqualifies half of the varieties. Can't tell if there's doubling on the bow to pick that one. I would say either the "short stem" or "broken stem". What does it look like to you?
No one on the board collects French Canadian coppers? Since early American coppers inspire such crazy passion, I thought there would be a few people with the bug from up north.
I picked up 2 more of these tokens at the TNA last weekend. One appears to be a Breton 704 ("Un Sou" in wreath reverse, with "Token" above & "Montreal" below), or, more specifically an LC33c1 or LC33c2 https://www.flickr.com/photos/georgemo/18426615661 https://www.flickr.com/photos/georgemo/18420694052 https://www.flickr.com/photos/georgemo/18398417096 https://www.flickr.com/photos/georgemo/18426493341 The LC attributions are based on what I found listed on Heritage (where no LC33's were listed and none of the existing examples matched the arrangement of leaves and string on the bouquet) and these two eBay items: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Lower-Canada...681?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item25a617c959 http://www.ebay.ca/itm/LC-33-C2-Can...983?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item1e9f926787
The other one I picked up is a Breton 713: https://www.flickr.com/photos/georgemo/18421463132 https://www.flickr.com/photos/georgemo/18237828198 https://www.flickr.com/photos/georgemo/18239473629 https://www.flickr.com/photos/georgemo/17805001653 After looking at numerous bouquet's up close, I'm left with the distinct impression that the engraver's freehanded each replacement die with only a loose association with what they'd done on previous ones. It certainly makes telling die varieties apart easier!
I posted your thread on another website and the token collectors there said that the pics weren't good enough to tell anything for certain, but thought that they were pretty common of well-worn and not worth much (a few bucks). Sorry
Sounds about right. I'm trying to get inexpensive but clean examples of the series & find it pretty amazing that I can get such obscure 180 year old coins for <$5 each.
