Value of a BL 36 Canadian Blacksmith Token?
Brainstormer
From
http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/Blacksmith.intro.html
"The next group of Blacksmiths is in imitation of the Irish halfpenny
with a bust obverse and an uncrowned harp reverse. There are three
varieties, BL 34 - BL 36, of which Wood only knew of the first BL 34
(Wood 22). That copper has a crude bust left portrait, while BL 35
displays a bust right wearing a laurel wreath and cuirass (armor) and
BL 36 has a bust left with laurel wreath and cuirass and a reverse
with a backwards harp (that is, the small strings are to the left)."
Mine is the BL 36
http://www.paramind.net/ebay/Canadian_Blacksmith_Token_1.jpg
http://www.paramind.net/ebay/Canadian_Blacksmith_Token_2.jpg
These are always worn looking since they were made this way to obscure
the fact they
were counterfeit.
--
Robert Pearson
ParaMind Brainstorming Software http://www.paramind.net
Creative Virtue Press/Telical Books/Regenerative Music
http://www.rspearson.com
Mr. Jaggers
> Value of a BL 36 Canadian Blacksmith Token?
>
> From
>
> http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/Blacksmith.intro.html
>
> "The next group of Blacksmiths is in imitation of the Irish halfpenny
> with a bust obverse and an uncrowned harp reverse. There are three
> varieties, BL 34 - BL 36, of which Wood only knew of the first BL 34
> (Wood 22). That copper has a crude bust left portrait, while BL 35
> displays a bust right wearing a laurel wreath and cuirass (armor) and
> BL 36 has a bust left with laurel wreath and cuirass and a reverse
> with a backwards harp (that is, the small strings are to the left)."
>
> Mine is the BL 36
>
> http://www.paramind.net/ebay/Canadian_Blacksmith_Token_1.jpg
> http://www.paramind.net/ebay/Canadian_Blacksmith_Token_2.jpg
>
> These are always worn looking since they were made this way to obscure
> the fact they
> were counterfeit.
Your coin cannot be BL-36, as the obverse portrait faces left, not right, as
does BL-36. The reverse, with its prominent "blob" die defect, was used
with an obverse die resembling, but not identical to, the one used to make
yours, to make BL-35, as well as with a number of different obverse dies in
the so-called "bust and harp" series, all numbered Breton 1012. On my
screen your coin most closely resembles BH-26, as catalogued by Ingram and
Marelik in their 2003 publication The Bust and Harp Tokens of Canada. BH-26
is listed as an R-7 and priced at $72 Canadian in VG, which is about all
your coin could muster, considering that the bust and harp series, as
opposed to the blacksmiths, were much better-struck.
James
RWF
"Mr. Jaggers" <lugburzman[at]yahoo[dot]com> wrote in message
news:gpc7h...@enews2.newsguy.com...
I agree with your assessment except for the grade, which I would put at
G at best, AG at worst.
Brainstormer
that most I've seen online.
I'm a rare book dealer and I don't see any copies of that reference
"The Bust and Harp Tokens of Canada,"
you mentioned available.
Can you name a publisher?
Mr. Jaggers
> They were supposed to look worn. It actually has a lot more detail
> that most I've seen online.
>
> I'm a rare book dealer and I don't see any copies of that reference
> "The Bust and Harp Tokens of Canada,"
> you mentioned available.
>
> Can you name a publisher?
Gregory S. Ingram and Branko Marelic self-published the title. ISBN is
0-9735186-0-X. So far they have released four spiral-bound titles, each
specific to a narrow field of Canadian Colonial tokens.
They list an address at
P. O. Box 1272, Stn 'M'
Calgary Alberta CANADA
T2P 2L2
As far as I know they sell their books only on eBay, which is how I learned
of their work. The other titles in the series are The Ships Colonies &
Commerce Tokens of Colonial Canada, The Provincial Penny and Half-Penny
Tokens of Nova Scotia, and The Tiffin Tokens of Canada.
This dealer lists the title in question for sale:
http://www.georgemanzcoins.com/books/tokens.html
Toward the bottom of this page there is an illustration of a page from their
book on Tiffin tokens:
http://www.numicanada.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5666
James
Mr. Jaggers
As with some of the Machin's Mills and Bungtown coppers that were made in
the U.S. during the pre-Federal era, a lot of these Canadian pieces were
made as "imitations." Sometimes they were imitations of imitations of
imitations, and by the time they got down below the cutoff for "blacksmith"
pieces, wherever that is, grading is guesswork at best, a moot point at
worst. The fact that Ingram & Marelic set VG as their lowest grade may
speak volumes about their assessment of these pieces. But I do agree, it
has the look of an AG, which, of course, was often the objective of the
manufacturer.
James