Breton 1005, And Other Possible Upper Canadian Colonial Issues

I was recently able to pick up an example of the enigmatic and undated Breton 1005. Unfortunately, it has been cleaned but hopefully it will retone with time. It is classified as Lower Canadian by Charlton, but I hope to share some interesting information about this token and others that appear to have been imported to Kingston, Ontario ca. 1816.

Br 1005. LC-56C1.


Below is a notice in the Kingston Chronicle from August 18 1820 that references Br 1005 ("a Halfpenny token, having Britannia on the one side and a ship on the other") along with other coppers that are to be barred from circulation on account of their light weight. These others comprise the well-known Upper Canadian Brock tokens, but also the "Waterloo Harp" (Breton 981, the Illustrious Wellington WE-10) and "Montreal Ship" (Breton 531, LC-12) tokens, which are not traditionally viewed as Upper Canadian issues. This newspaper notice was brought to light in Christopher Faulkner's Coins are Like Songs (2016).


I have further noticed that, although struck on a smaller flan, the letter punches of Br 1005 match with those of the Illustrious Wellington token, Br 981 (notably the letter "H"), suggesting a common origin of manufacture. Although I do not own an example of Br 531 I believe this to be the case for that token as well. A notice in the July 15 1817 issue of the Kingston Gazette (also brought up in Coins are Like Songs) indicates an importation of "Waterloo" (ie. Br 981, WE-10) coppers from Sackets Harbour NY, indicating an American origin for all of these pieces. Furthermore, these issues (excepting Br 1005) are all dated 1816, and production may extend beyond Upper Canada, for example, the 1816-dated Nova Scotia pieces of W.A.S Black.

Br 981, WE-10A2


What American-based mint may have been responsible I cannot say, but some these are some interesting and relatively recent insights into the colonial series that I am fascinated by and wanted to share.

Cheers!