I don't have a lot of information on these. I think that these were made locally for merchants in Nova Scotia. There were many varieties made. Those I have found that come closest are Breton 886 and 887 but the legends seem to be reversed in a combination of the two. Can anyone add any information and give me a catalog number for this one? Thanks.
I think the sketches of the coins in my Haxby book had something wrong with the legends. ( In other words ... Genuine British Copper is on the Bust side with the date and Halfpenny Token is on the seated figure in the book.) Maybe some are on opposite sides too but I am concluding that this is Breton 886.
I agree on that point about them looking satirical, perhaps some of the of the imitations and locally minted tokens were deliberately designed for some defiant reasons. Collecting these tokens has helped me learn some of the colonial history but I have only seen the tip of the iceberg. I find this era very interesting about Canada.
Get a copy of Charlton's "Canadian Colonial Tokens", which is the primer for all pre-confederation tokens. Then you can get further into it with Breton and Courteau. These tokens were actually private "forgeries" designed to imitate, but not actually be a counterfeit, of regular British coinage. They contained an honest copper content and competed against the numerous forgeries which threatened confidence in copper currency. There are 4-5 varieties of the token (NS-25 series) with the half-penny and date on the bust side. And there are at least 2 varieties of the NS-26 series with the "Genuine British copper" and date on the portrait side. They are also Breton 886 and 887 series's. Get the Charlton book and be careful about using the Haxby book for ID's. It is new and hasn't been properly vetted or corrected.
Took me 6 weeks to get one but I took your advice and finally bought this. I am sure it is the one you have suggested Bill. 2012 CHARLTON CANADIAN COLONIAL TOKENS (8TH EDITION) PRICE GUIDE BOOK
