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A Little Rowdy, Eh?

Canadian Tokens Tell a Story

by Michael E. Marotta, 3 Jun 1994

(This upload originally appeared in Topic 43 of the Well Collectible Conference. An abbreviated version ran in The Shinplaster, May 1994.)

At the Fall meeting of the Michigan Token and Medal Society, I bought three Canadian coins, two cents and a half cent. They say, "Bank of Upper Canada / One Penny Bank Token." I brought them home and looked them up in K&M's World Coins. Then I went to the encyclopedias and from there to histories of Canada.

It started in 1837. Hard times brough discontent. The French had never been happy with English rule in "Quebec" (Lower Canada, the Lawrentian plain to about Lake Erie). Upper Canada was perhaps 80% American or in any case mostly non-English. (Upper Canada is what we call southwest Ontario: the lands along Great Lakes.) A small number of powerful families controlled Canada, much to the dislike of the hardy pioneering types. Rebellions broke out in both Upper and Lower Canada. They were crushed.

A decade later, the government decided to remunerate those who had lost property in the Rebellions via the Rebellions Losses Bill of 1849. Tories, for whom the law was written, were upset at the thought that rebels would be paid, also. The conservatives pelted the Governor's carriage with stones and eggs. The parliament building in Montreal (then the capital) was set ablaze. The government retreated to Toronto.

The Bank of Upper Canada was granted the right to mint copper one cent and half cent tokens. The coins show St George slaying the dragon on the obverse. The reverse has a complex set of devices. In the center, an anchor and sword cross a vertical Indian peace pipe. At the base, left and right are cornucopias. At the top right a British union jack is folded. A crown is top center. "R K & CO" is on the obverse (above the date under the hoof) for Rowe Kentish & Co, the agents who brokered the token deal. The coins are well made for the era, with deep strikes. They are often found well-circulated, an Unc being worth about 10 times a Fine. They passed through many hands.

Mintages were impressive, all things considered. The series is also very short and therefore extremely collectible.

To put the coins in context, trade and commerce in Canada were supported by a plethora of unofficial, private and foreign moneys. From the 1600s to the 1800s, people made due. From 1832 to 1852, Quebecois bought and sold with Bouquet Sous, Habitat Sous, half penny and penny tokens. The province of Upper Canada (being further west) had only one issue of unknown but small volume in 1832. Government coins finally hit the streets in 1858, with half a million pennies, followed by 9 million in 1859.

Michael E. Marotta

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