1820 TOKEN North West VF25 PCGS. Breen 1083, W-9250....

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1820 North West Token, VF25
Historic and Elusive, W-9250

1820 TOKEN North West VF25 PCGS. Breen 1083, W-9250. Holed at 12 o'clock, as are most of the known examples. According to Breen's Encyclopedia (page 109): "Only a single issue qualifies as a colonial circulating medium for the Pacific Northwest. This is the 1820 NORTH WEST COMPANY token, made in Birmingham by John Walker & Co. for Canadian promoters of a beaver-trapping enterprise ..."

The Whitman Encyclopedia of Colonial and Early American Coins adds: "Likely, these tokens were used through the 1820s ... in exchange for one beaver pelt." The North West token is among the latest pieces collected under the "early American" banner, and the only one to depict George IV, son of Revolution-inspiring British monarch George III. This example of the North West token displays granular fields with green and violet overtones across much of the brass and scattered porosity that intensifies on the reverse. Listed on page 78 of the 2016 Guide Book.
Ex: ANA Signature (Heritage, 8/2007), lot 1525; FUN Signature (Heritage, 1/2012), lot 3011; New York Signature (Heritage, 3/2012), lot 3035.

Coin Index Numbers: (PCGS# 662)

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