1837 CANADIAN "UN SOU"

The Bank of Canada states that during the first half of the 19th century there was a chronic shortage of small coins in Lower Canada; in 1835, following a government decision to remove all the lightweight pieces from circulation, the shortage became acute; no official coins were issued but the Bank of Montreal, the Quebec Bank, the City Bank, and La Banque du Peuple were given authority to issue penny and half penny tokens of a weight similar to that of British copper coins; the obverse of these tokens portrays the standing figure of an habitant in winter dress, with his toque, frock overcoat of homespun with hood, moccasins, sash and whip; it was thought that the figure resembled Louis-Joseph Papineau, a leader of the Rebellion of 1837, and the tokens became known as "Papineaus"; the reverse depicts the arms of the city of Montreal with the name of the issuing bank on the ribbon, the date 1837 below and the words BANK TOKEN ONE PENNY (HALF PENNY); this example shows the inscription "CONCORDIA SALUS" on the ribbon indicating the issuing bank was the Bank of Montreal, the token is in near fine condition