Specimen Token - Halfpenny, Adamson, Watts McKechnie & Co, Wholesale & Retail Warehousemen, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1855

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Adamson, Watts, McKechnie & Co. Token Halfpenny

Summary:: Copper Halfpenny Specimen Token, minted by the Kangaroo Office, Melbourne. Issued by Adamson, Watts, McKechnie & Co., Wholesale and Retail Warehousemen, in Melbourne. Adamson joined the existing softgoods business of Watts and McKechnie & Co in April 1855, however the firm became insolvent in September of that year, a common situation as Melbourne's economy slowed considerably, overwhelmed by the massive boom of the early gold rush.
Description:: A round copper token (28 mm diameter) giving the name address and business of the issuer: Adamson, Watts and McKechnie & Co.; 11 Collins St. East, Melbourne; wholesale and retail warehousemen. The token is a proof striking with lightly toned mirror fields. It bears the date May 1st. 1855.
Acquisition Information:: Transfer from National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Eugene von Guerard, 1976

Discipline:	Numismatics
Dimensions:	28 mm (Diameter)
Weight:	8.029 g (Weight)

More information

Tagged with:	retail trade, retailing, warehouses, wholesale trade
Themes this item is part of:	Adamson Watts McKechnie & Co., Melbourne, Victoria, Eugene von Guerard Collection, Numismatics & Philately Collection, Working Life & Trades Collection, Kangaroo Office Mint, Melbourne, Victoria, 1854-1857, Eugene von Guerard, Artist (1811-1901)
Primary Classification:	TRADE TOKENS
Secondary Classification:	Australia - Victoria
Tertiary Classification:	specimen strikes
Series:	Trade Tokens
DateEra:	1855 AD
Denomination:	Halfpenny
Obverse Description:	Around within a border of 129 beads; ADAMSON, WATTS, MCKECHNIE & CO. . in three lines at centre, WHOLESALE / & RETAIL / WAREHOUSMEN
Reverse Description:	Around within a border of 123 beads; .11 COLLINS ST. EAST . MELBOURNE in two lines at centre, MAY 1ST. / 1855
Edge Description:	Plain
Inscriptions:	Obverse: ADAMSON, WATTS, MCKECHNIE & Co WHOLESALE & RETAIL WAREHOUSMEN Reverse: 11 COLLINS ST. EAST MAY 1ST. 1855 MELBOURNE
Shape:	round
Material:	Copper
Issued By:	Adamson Watts McKechnie & Co., Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1855 The date given on the tokens is May 1st 1855, is this the date the company was formed?.
Mint:	Kangaroo Office (Mint), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1855
Previous Collection:	Eugene von Guerard, pre 1880
Bibliography:	[Book], Dr Arthur Andrews, Australasian Tokens and Coins, Trustees of the Mitchell Library, Sydney, Sydney, 1921, No. 3 [Book], Dion Skinner - Renniks & Co Pty Ltd, Gilbert Heyde, Unofficial Coins of Colonial Australia and New Zealand, 1967, No. 3 [Article] Gardner, F. 1965. Trade Tokens and the Firms that Issued Them. Report of the Australian Numismatic Society. XXX [Article] Sharples, John P. 1993. A Catalogue of the Trade Tokens of Victoria 1848 to 1862. Journal of the Numismatic Association of Australia. vol.7: p.1-77., v. 41