Item NU 42667 Token - 1 Penny, Hide & De Carle, Grocers & Wine Merchants, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1858

Summary

Copper one Penny Token, minted by Heaton & Sons, 1858. Issued by Hide & De Carle, Grocers & Wine Merchants, Melbourne, 1858.

Thomas Hide and Edward De Carle formed a partnership in 1857. They had both been running their own businesses in Melbourne for several years beforehand. They founded a Grocery, Wine and Spirit merchant's business on Elizabeth Street, which lasted until 1861. Their business also included a land and estate agency. Hide and De Carle issued a total of 16 types of penny and half penny tokens, eight in 1857 and eight in 1858. All the tokens were struck by Heaton and Sons of Birmingham.

Physical Description

A round copper token (34 mm diameter) giving the name address and business of the issuer: Hide & De Carle, Elizabeth St. Melbourne, Grocers and wine merchants.. The token features at centre of the obverse a male lion standing to left with head crowned facing front, its right paw is raised and rests on a shield bearing the Union Jack, its tail curved back over its body. On the reverse a female figure representing Justice seated on a wool bale with legs to left but her head and upper body to front. A wine barrel lies on the ground behind her, its end decorated with a cross to hint at a Union Jack (as found beside Britannia on the copper coins of the period). A three-masted sailing ship sails to the right on the horizon to the left. Justice wears a blindfold and extends a balanced set of scales with her right hand. With her left she holds an inverted cornucopia from which fruits flow onto the ground. She wears an ancient-style of flowing dress bound at the waist, her left arm bare and right draped to near the elbow. It bears the date 1858. Token is worn on relief.

Obverse Description

At centre within two concentric rings of text devided by a beaded circle, a male lion standing to left with head crowned facing front, its right paw is raised and rests on a shield bearing the Union Jack, its tail curved back over its body. Around, .HIDE & DE CARLE. GROCERS & WINE MERCHANTS / . ELIZABETH STREET . MELBOURNE

Reverse Description

Female figure representing Justice seated on a wool bale with legs to left but her head and upper body to front. A wine barrel lies on the ground behind her, its end decorated with a cross to hint at a Union Jack (as found beside Britannia on the copper coins of the period). A three-masted sailing ship sails to the right on the horizon to the left. Justice wears a blindfold and extends a balanced set of scales with her right hand. With her left she holds an inverted cornucopia from which fruits flow onto the ground. She wears an ancient-style of flowing dress bound at the waist, her left arm bare and right draped to near the elbow. Around above; MELBOURNE. VICTORIA. in exergue; 1858

Significance

This token was sent to the Museum, unsolicited, by the donor. It was accompanied by a letter which stated:
'Dear Sir/Madam, Please find enclosed coin, it belonged to a great-great aunt of mine who owned a public house called the 'Eight Bells' in Watford, England, and was probably one of many old coins that got passed over the counter. I feel it belongs back in your great city and may be of some interest. I am sure that Hide & De Carle no longer exist, although Elizabeth Street might. Yours sincerely, Vivian Varley.'
Hide & De Carle tokens are not rare, and this example is not in particularly good condition. It is significant because of its provenance. Very few of the tokens in the collection have any provenance beyond the collector who donated them to the Museum. To know that this token was passed as either currency or a novelty in England, quite possibly more than a century ago, greatly increases its significance. It is concrete evidence of two way trade between Australia and England. The fact that it has been kept in the family for four generations is also of interest.