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Montreal, Lower Canada (struck in England), "bout de l'isle" copper token for trip by wagon (charret

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / World Coins - World (A-G) Start Price:750.00 USD Estimated At:800.00 - 1,200.00 USD
Montreal, Lower Canada (struck in England),  bout de l'isle  copper token for trip by wagon (charret
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This item SOLD at 2023 Nov 03 @ 10:02UTC-4 : AST/EDT
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Montreal, Lower Canada (struck in England), "bout de l'isle" copper token for trip by wagon (charrette) across the bridge, no date (1808), rare, ex-Baker. Breton-543; BT-14. 7.53 grams. Bold and problem-free XF, very darkly toned, particularly rare without clip on edge. These tokens were issued for travel across the final wooden bridge built to connect the northern tip of the island of Montreal ("bout de l'isle" being French for "end of the island") with the mainland via the privately owned Isle Bourdon (that route is now highway QC-136 or Rue Notre-Dame via Le Gardeur bridge). This type shows CHARRETTE (wagon) on reverse, but others show CHEVAL (horse), or CALECHE (carriage), or PERSONNE (person) for other means of crossing. Curiously, the tokens of this series, which represent the earliest North American transportation tokens, all bear the spelling error REPENTIGUY for Repentigny (the city just north of Isle Bourdon), as the engravers in Birmingham were no doubt ignorant of the French language. Struck in 1808, these tokens were in use for only a short time as the bridges were all swept away by ice in the spring of that same year. Pedigreed to the Warren Baker Collection of Canadian coins and tokens.