Montreal British Militia Token

[ChrisManMon]

Hi , I am new here, this is my first post, sorry if there are any mistakes.
I found this token 3 days ago while digging along a river shore near Montreal.
30 feet further along the shore from this find there was a lot of broken pottery/ bones/ glass and rusted metal. I will be going back to the spot next week with my metal detector.

 

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[Red-Coat]

Good find. Both button and currency. This from the 'coinsandcanada.com' website:

https://www.coinsandcanada.com/toke...wn was struck,and originally finished in gilt.

When faced with shortages of official coinage, Canada's early citizens resorted to a variety of novel substitutes such as playing cards, paper I.O.U.s, and even brass buttons. The illustration features one such button used during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. At that time Canada produced no coinage of its own, so people accepted whatever tokens and foreign coins were available. As the supply was insufficient for the demands of the growing colony, some individuals supplemented their holdings.

Among soldiers constantly trying to stretch their pay, buttons were a favourite substitute for coins. Typically, the shank was removed from the back and the button was flattened before being placed into circulation. A wide variety of these pieces from various British and Canadian regiments are known to have been used in this manner. Most of these buttons were displaced from circulation in the late 1830s when large quantities of heavier bank tokens were introduced.

The button shown was struck for the Montreal Militia, the largest of five district militias in Lower Canada following the War of 1812. It bears the simple incuse legend "Montreal British Militia," was struck in brass and originally finished in gilt. The button is about the size of a British halfpenny and would have passed as its equivalent. This piece forms part of the National Currency Collection, Bank of Canada.

 

[mindcrime1988]

Nice find.

 

[ArfieBoy]

Nice! That is a cool and interesting find! Let us know what else you find with your detector. And welcome to the forum from Oregon. Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[ChrisManMon]

Thanks everyone, I will let you all know later next week what else I find.

 

[Digger RJ]

Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[ironhorse]

very awesome find!
so few have been found and posted but they are a true early Canadian rarity
yours is in exception condition and doesn't have its shank so it may have passed as a half penny..as redcoat mentioned they were used as coins
I've seen seen both with and without shanks found...mine doesn't either ( found 2001)

 

[JeffInMass]

Welcome aboard and Congrats on a great find!

 

[Squirrel322]

Beautiful button and very interesting piece!

 

[CRUSADER]

That is a great button find & comes with a great story, of it maybe being a token, although difficult to prove. The breaking of the shank could also indicate how it was lost.
Other than the broken shank it's in nice condition.
Lastly welcome to Tnet.

 

[pepperj]

Welcome to the forum
That's a real nice find, congrats on the button, and good luck with your return hunt.

 

[unclemac]

those buttons go for about $600 on ebay.... they are a must have for any early Canada numismatist. They are a well known variety of "token"

 

[lenmac65]

Very nice button. Hope you have more luck there with your detector. Congrats.

 

[A2coins]

Awesome I love tokens more than most silver. Good hunt

 

[A2coins]

Welcome to tnet

 

[Relicific]

Awesome token/button
Welcome aboard

 

[Silvermonkey]

Welcome to T- Net. That's a very interesting find. I certainly would head back to that site for some further exploration. Good luck!

 

[Coinstar magnet]

Welcome to Tnet.
I look forward to seeing your next finds.

 

[ChrisManMon]

Return dig

Hi everyone, so I returned to the spot where I found the British militia token, I brought my metal detector with me( just a cheap 60$ one from amazon) , but in this spot the majority of rocks are magnetic and there was a lot of scrap metal washed up along the river shore, so metal detecting wasn't helpful. I dug up the hillside where I originally found the token but all I found was junk....and poison ivy... which I was regrettably not too careful around lol. I may have found a fossilized tooth and some petrified wood. Geuss I ran out of luck.

 

[Mackaydon]

Great finds; welcome to treasurenet from SoCal.
Don...