For some years now, collectors interested in halfpence that circulated in colonial North America have argued the placement of the copper known as Wood 42 in the overall scheme of things. In 1910 Howland Wood published his historic work 'The Canadian Blacksmith Coppers'. These tokens were seen at the time as having manufacture and circulation in colonial Canada. The debate began sometime ago when Warren Baker, having seen no specimen that he could justify calling uniface stated that Wood 42 was not a Blacksmith token, but rather a crude yet ordinary contemporary counterfeit British halfpenny. This would imply a date and place of manufacture somewhere in Great Britain and much earlier than previously thought
Wood described his Blacksmith #42 as a uniface copper with a "HEAD OF GEORGE II TO LEFT. NO INSCRIPTION". This has to my knowledge been the accepted state of affairs until the Warren Baker Collection of Canadian Blacksmith Coppers was auctioned by Bowers & Merena in March 1987 where the Wood 42 specimen offered there was accompanied by the statement "While a legitimate example of Wood-42, this variety is not a blacksmith.". The specimen shown there, upside down no less, exhibited a noticeable britannia on the reverse, but no date.
Shortly thereafter ye author purchased a specimen of Wood 42 with a clear britannia and a full strong retrograde 1771 date. The date was punched in using regular as
opposed to die sinker's number punches, hence it appears as a mirror image on the token with the second 7 (the one to the right of the other as you look at the token) being double punched. Since that time communications have improved and a whole family of British contemporary counterfeits related to the retrograde dated Wood 42 have come to light. While most of these current 'family' members are distinguished by retrograde dating, all of these current specimens are dated and would appear to be contemporary with their date as opposed to an issue circa 1830 or so as the blacksmiths are thought to have. This should lay to rest most question as to the time of issue of these bifacial coppers bearing the 'Wood 42' obverse.
However Wood did describe a uniface Wood 42. Howland Wood was not an inexperienced collector. It still remains possible that after earlier, none too successful contemporary use in Britain the obverse die could still have made it's way to colonial Canada decades later to slightly enhance the meagre copper population in 1830's colonial Canada with a few as yet currently unknown Wood 42s. A certainly uniface Wood 42 must, I think at this time show itself, to retrieve the idea of Wood 42 being a Blacksmith Copper as described by Wood. |
