Bank of Upper Canada token 1/2 penny

[JKK]

I'm hoping Team Canada will know the answer here. I've got a bunch of old Canadian large cents, of which the metal content is easy to identify (I learned that it shifted once). Nice-looking coins. But this big Bank of Upper Canada token is a mystery. It's an 1857 and looks to be of similar mostly copper composition, but I don't know the exact composition. I've searched online and have learned interesting things about pre-Confederation coinage, but am having trouble with this one.

 

Does anyone have a good reference for the metal content of Canadian bank tokens?

[MTHead-migration]

My Krause Standard Catalog of World Coins, 19th Century, 2nd Edition says copper. There is also a bronze Proof listed.

 

Mintage for the copper pieces is listed as 3 million.

[JKK]

Solid copper? Wow. Does the book give the weight? Sorry, I should have asked that to begin with, but I forgot.

[MTHead-migration]

Does the book give the weight?

 

No.

[Yarm]

Charlton's catalog of Canadian Colonial Tokens gives the weight of the 1857 1/2P as 7.9 to 8.5 grams

 

[JKK]

Marvelous, Yarm, thanks. Unless I decide on the novel step of finding a coin scale and weighing the coin myself, I'll probably just reckon it as 8.2g--in the middle of the range. Mine's almost Hershey bar dark but not overly worn.

 

By the way, is that image yours? If so, marvelous coin. And yep, that's the exact type and date I have. Not sure if Canadian coins use a similar grading system to US ones, but loosely applying ours I'd give mine a VG-8 or F-12 (rider worn but leg fully outlined, right cornucopia on reverse worn fairly flat but well outlined). Looks like the high points are the rider's leg and chest, the crown and the right hand cornucopia. I'd guess people pay thousands for one like the example you posted.

[Yarm]

This is a very collectable series with VF and better examples readily available on Ebay and dealer lists.

I paid less than $100 for my 1857 but that was at least 15 years ago. The proofs on the other hand are

quite rare and pricey. If you've never seen one, forgive me for showing off a bit

 

 

 

[JKK]

No one needs to ask pardon for showing off beautiful coins here, that's for sure. I'd guess the bottom one is uncirculated and the top one nearly so (if that's slight wear on the left cornucopia and the horse's flank and upper foreleg shoulder). In any case they're definite collector's items--nice stuff indeed!