Canada: SHIPS COLONIES & COMMERCE 1/2 Penny Token ND, Br-999 VF25 Brown NGC,...

Description

Very Rare Breton-999

SHIPS COLONIES & COMMERCE 1/2 Penny Token ND, Br-999 VF25 Brown NGC, PE-10-5A2, BL-24C, thin, 5.03 gm. Flan flaw below the bow of the ship, probably as made. The present example was owned by W.W.C. Wilson.

As Chris Faulkner has pointed out in Breton 999: A Numismatic Record, Breton greatly confused collectors by using incorrect obverse drawings for the number 999 listed in his catalogs.  This led to doubt that Br-999 even existed, or if it did, it was a fake.  In November 1925 L.A. Langstroth bought a piece in the W.W.C. Wilson sale that had a ship with an unusually high poop deck and that some believed had to be Br-999.  Langstroth showed it to W.A.D. Lees, who had never seen one.  Lees, doubting it was the mysterious Br-999, incorporated it into his Ships Colonies & Commerce token list as number 5A. 

Modern collectors disagree with Lees and accept that the high poop deck ship variety, Lees-5A, is indeed Br-999.  One of the great rarities of the pre-Confederation token series, Lees-5A / Breton-999 is unpriced in Charlton, with the notation NONE CERTIFIED - EXTREMELY RARE.  Examples seldom come to market.  The present example is the historic piece from the Wilson sale and the one that Lees published.  It is one of the best of the few surviving examples.


Ex. W.W.C. Wilson collection (Wayte Raymond, Nov. 1925, lot 648a, Ex. L.A. Langstroth collection, Ex. John McKay-Clements collection (Frank Rose, May 1976, lot 615).
From the Doug Robins Collection of Canadian Tokens

More information about Canadian Coins. See also: Canada World Coin Nationality.

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