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1170

A Group Lot of ELEVEN (11) Canadian Blacksmith Tokens.

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:25.00 USD Estimated At:NA
A Group Lot of ELEVEN (11) Canadian Blacksmith Tokens.
A Group Lot of ELEVEN (11) Canadian Blacksmith Tokens.All Wood 33, Charlton BL-37. All grade in the Very Good-Fine range, with scattered light marks, a couple with more severe damage, but overall all are at least average for this variety. Weights range from 84.6 to 95.8 grains. While long-grandfathered into the Canadian Blacksmith series, this variety was actually first listed as an evasion copper several decades earlier (and was listed by Atkins two or three different times, since the legends were not clear). It is a fascinating variety, the obverse modeled directly on a British evasion copper, the reverse unlike anything in the evasion series – or, for that matter, the Blacksmith series. It was likely struck a decade after the last Blacksmiths were produced, and a good 40 years after the end of the evasion copper series, meaning that while this variety is collected as part of both these series, it really belongs to neither. However, with no other place to put it, and the obvious ties to both, it remains part of each. These may have been made in North America – by 1840 there were a number of mints in the United States that could have turned out the large and uniform mintage of this variety, though likely none in Canada. They could have also been made in England and exported – which may be a more likely scenario since a number are known to have been included in late 19th and early 20th century British collections as evasion coppers, and it seems that would have been easier done had the coins been there to begin with. However, most of them did end up in North America, and the late Mike Ringo put together a hoard of 250-300 examples, buying mainly from Canadian and US dealers. The Charlton book errs in stating the VTS on the obverse legend stands for Vermont – these were made well past the point Vermont had become a state, and instead the legend is copied from an evasion copper that read GLORIOVS III VIS, and the legend has nothing to do with Vermont or the United States. This is the most plentiful variety in both the Blacksmith and evasion copper series, but though common, is always of interest because of the mystery surrounding them. Eleven coins in the lot.
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