NewP Canadian Blacksmith Token Arrived, New Photos

ambro51

The adventure begins with the arrival today of Canadian Blacksmith Token Wood 33. This is the most common piece in the series and I'd guess thousands exist. Possibly struck in England, or some suggest Vermont...but probably not Canada for this Variety. Very nice smooth planchet looking much better than the lousy planchets of the Vermont mint, the coin would no doubt blend in very well with the various halfpenny sized coins and tokens then in circulation. The obverse legend is quite confusing, Howland Wood interpreted it as GLORIOVS III . VIS. But on examination of the macro photo here shows a distinct difference between the first O and the second, which to me seems like a U , making the legend read GLORIUVS III. VIS. , which fully fits into how they made these to read as nonsense. Made to look old and worn , especially on the reverse, the detail was never there, it has not worn off. Various interpretations of the reverse legend are BRTIT or BITIT, the serif details offering no help and in fact some seem like the serif has been added on The item held by the reverse figure is a Shamrock. The coin weighs 92 grains is 26.3 mm in diameter and struck exact coin turn. When you take into account how these pieces are graded..........I'm going to call this "choice VF". . Though I have not read of any indication of this piece being dated there DOES appear to be a very shadowy trace of 17?? Where the date should be. It is thought the edges of the die itself were filed down to "confuse" the exact ledgend ( these ARE counterfeits). What DOES it say? The serifs give little clue

1960NYGiants

Here's a link for further study: Blacksmiths

syl

I hate to tell you a shutter story, but I collected Canadian Large cents for years and had a few of these cross my path. I had 3 or 4 of them in my hoards and went and trashed them (physically in the trash) because I thought that they were just counterfeits. I rue the day that I did that (30 years ago). I now know better. B

ambro51

Don't feel too bad QDB threw out dozens of matte proof Lincoln's that were wrapped in packing he didn't check. ./////// No doubt a GREAT many Blacksmiths were discarded around 1835-9 when the Bank refused to take them. Using the rarity chart from the Roper catalog I come up with a low end overall survival population of 2500 pieces excluding Wood 33. Considering many of these are still not "in" the numismatic food chain I'd think that population may be low as most are but the rarity snapshot I see right now , even including the Wood 33 which must survive at least 2-5 thousand. Considering we are looking at quite historic coins in that they are the First coinage struck in Canada, are cataloged but are rare....the prices are most reasonable. Of course one must develop a love for worn colonial copper before venturing down this path. BTW the Canadian Money Museum has an extensive collection well photographed online. I tried to link if but it didn't work. Follow the collection search prompt with Blacksmith.

1960NYGiants

Roper catalogue? Please tell me more about this.

YQQ

ok Bill, but YOU NEVER sell anything anyway....