Summary

Copper One Penny Token, minted by Heaton & Son, Birmingham, England, circa 1858. Issued by James Campbell, General Stores, Morpeth, New South Wales. James Campbell arranged for a large supply of tokens, both penny and halfpenny denominations from Heaton and Son, Birmingham.

Previous collections: George McArthur

Physical Description

A round copper token (34 mm dia) featuring the name and business name of the issuer, James Campbell General Stores of Morpeth. It features a female figure representing Justice standing facing left. She 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 among the fruit the letter G. She wears an ancient-style of flowing dress bound at the waist, her left arm is draped to near the elbow while drapery falls from her extended arm to below the horizon line behind; around above, AUSTRALIA. A three-masted sailing ship on horizon at left of token. Two slightly different reverse dies were employed to strike the penny tokens. On this example the word AUSTRALIA is 23.3 mm long starting 7.5 mm above the sea. A line along the bottom of the scale pans would pass through the middle of the letter A.

Obverse Description

JAMES CAMPBELL / GENERAL STORES / . MORPETH . all lines are curved

Reverse Description

Female figure representing Justice standing facing left. She 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 among the fruit the letter G. She wears an ancient-style of flowing dress bound at the waist, her left arm is draped to near the elbow while drapery falls from her extended arm to below the horizon line behind; around above, AUSTRALIA. A three-masted sailing ship on horizon at left of token.

Edge Description

Plain

More Information

  • Collection Names

    McArthur Bequest

  • Collecting Areas

    Numismatics & Philately, Working Life & Trades

  • Acquisition Information

    Transfer from National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), George McArthur, 15 Mar 1976

  • Date Issued

    circa 1858 AD

  • Issued By

    James Campbell - General Stores, Morpeth, New South Wales, Australia, 1850-1863

  • Mint

    Heaton and Son, Birmingham, England, Great Britain, 1854-1860

  • Previous Collection

    George McArthur

  • Inscriptions

    Obverse: JAMES CAMPBELL GENERAL STORES MORPETH Reverse: AUSTRALIA

  • Denomination

    1 Penny

  • Series

    Trade Tokens

  • Material

    Copper

  • Axis

    11

  • Classification

    Trade tokens, Australia - new south wales, Working strikes

  • Category

    History & Technology

  • Discipline

    Numismatics

  • Type of item

    Object

  • Dimensions

    34 mm (Outside Diameter), 14.655 g (Weight)

  • Shape

    Round

  • References

    Two slightly different reverse dies were employed to strike the penny tokens. On this example, die 1, the word AUSTRALIA is 23.3 mm long starting 7.5 mm above the sea. A line along the bottom of the scale pans would pass through the middle of the letter A. For die 2 see NU3595, the word AUSTRALIA is 24.1 mm long starting 8.5 mm above the sea. A line along the bottom of the scale pans would just touch the bottom of the letter A. These die identifications form the basis of standard references and the museum's storage system.
    [Thesis] Lugton, Mary E. 1989. George McArthur of Maldon: his Life and his Book Collection.
    [Catalogue] Morrison, Ian. 2003. The Baker of Maldon.
    [Book] Andrews, Arthur. 1921. Australasian Tokens and Coins., No. 60
    [Book] Heyde, Gilbert C. & Skinner, Dion H. 1967. Unofficial Coins of Colonial Australia and New Zealand., No. 37/2

  • Keywords

    Law & Justice, Retailing, Shops