My earliest Canadian

[Prosit]

1859 and cleaned but it looks pretty good to me.  The 1858 has eluded me so far 

Dale

[Figleaf]

That oak wreath somehow always reminded me of Indian colonial coppers ...

I know what you mean, Dale, but neither this, nor the 1858 cent is the oldest coin from Canada. There's a whole bunch of older coins (not even counting generic French colonial coins), but they are not decimal. Its claim to being Canadian is much better, but look at the animated map here. In 1859, Canada was only a fraction of the country we know now.

Nevertheless, that's a wonderful specimen you are showing. Even after a long stare, I am not sure if it is 1859 over 1858, but the first thing I noted was that on the picture, it seems like the tail of the 9 is sticking out downwards of a line formed by the bottoms of the other figures in the date. Can you see it coin in hand?

Peter

[tonyclayton]

That oak wreath somehow always reminded me of Indian colonial coppers ...

Maple leaves, please!

[Prosit]

There are several date varieties of the 1859...I never knew which one this is.  I will try to do a high res scan of the date tonight...or if I get time at lunch 

Dale

[Prosit]

Date image

[tonyclayton]

You have the normal narrow-9 type (sadly the most common). The wide 9 was used to overstrike the 8 on old 1858 dies

[tonyclayton]

Here is a similar scan of my own example.  The 9 is narrow, but a little low. It has not been cleaned, and is very dark as so many of that period are.

[Figleaf]

I used a graphics programme to check the alignments. Dale's is perfectly aligned. Tony's copy isn't. The 5 is placed just a bit too low and the 9 even lower while the 8 and the 1 are well aligned.

Maple leaves? I believe you, but Wikipedia claims the became national symbol in the 1860's. Chicken or egg, maybe? BTW, Canada is a really symbolic country, having 17 symbols!

Peter

[BC Numismatics]

Mine has to be the holed example of the 1858 10c. coin I bought for NZ$4 a few months ago in Auckland at the fair I attended.

Aidan.

[translateltd]

Just had a look in my "Canada bag" and see to my dismay that some of the more interesting earlier items (e.g. 1859 cent, 1850 Upper Canada penny) are no longer there - I must have sold them in a moment of weakness, or otherwise have put them somewhere else ...

I *do* have the following early-ish issues:

- a PEI "Self-Government and Free Trade" token of 1855
- Lower Canada 1837 sou
- 1814 halfpenny token "For Convenience of Trade" (Geo III/Ship)
- 1815 Barry halfpenny, Halifax (Geo III/ship again)

[BC Numismatics]

Martin,
  Can you please upload some photos of your Canadian colonial coins?

My earliest one is the Lower Canadian 1/2d. dated 1813 & describing the Duke of Wellington as a Marquess - clearly an antedate,as Wellington wasn't created a Marquess until 1814.

My rarest one is the Magdalen Islands 1d. dated 1815.

Aidan.