999

Magdalen Island, Lower Canada (struck in England), copper "seal" 1 penny token, 1815, struck from Pr

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / World Coins - World (A-G) Start Price:900.00 USD Estimated At:1,000.00 - 1,500.00 USD
Magdalen Island, Lower Canada (struck in England), copper  seal  1 penny token, 1815, struck from Pr
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Magdalen Island, Lower Canada (struck in England), copper "seal" 1 penny token, 1815, struck from Proof dies, ex-Baker. Breton-520; KM-Tn1; LC-1. 17.14 grams. Dark XF+ with minor edge-bruises and small divot between TO and THE on reverse, somewhat glossy fields as expected for Proof dies (perhaps what Charlton refers to with the statement "a specimen exists" for variation 2). This popular type, with denomination explicit as ONE PENNY, was commissioned by Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, who received the Magdalen Islands (west of Newfoundland, now part of Quebec) by King George III for his loyalty in the American Revolution. Its distinctive design of a seal on obverse and codfish filet on reverse succinctly embodies Lower Canada's chief maritime products. These pieces were made by Edward Thomason of London, who wrote the following in his 1845 memoir: “I had manufactured this year (1815) a large quantity of tokens for Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, Bart., who is the sole possessor and king, as he called himself, of the Magdalen Islands, situated in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in North America... As soon as a large quantity of these were struck off, Sir Isaac sailed off with them, packed in casks, and took with him a powerful coining press and machinery, and the dies ready engraved, to establish what he called a little mint for his subjects, to manufacture their coin for the future.” Pedigreed to the Warren Baker Collection of Canadian coins and tokens.