{"id":34057,"date":"2021-07-29T19:40:15","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T19:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jetonscanada.com\/fr\/product\/bl-34-blacksmith-token-3-89g-canada-wood-22\/"},"modified":"2025-02-28T22:48:39","modified_gmt":"2025-03-01T03:48:39","slug":"bl-34-blacksmith-token-3-89g-canada-wood-22","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/jetonscanada.com\/fr\/product\/bl-34-blacksmith-token-3-89g-canada-wood-22\/","title":{"rendered":"BL-34 Blacksmith token 3.89g Canada Wood 22"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

BL-34, Wood 22<\/span>
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3.89 g, 25.7 mm, Orientation is North\/West<\/span>
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Graded by NGC VG-8. It was removed from the holder.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ex. Partrick (HA, Auction 61206, Lot 98276, 1200$<\/span>(960$US)<\/span><\/span>),
\nEx. Baker (Private sale, 15\/12\/89, 3000$(2700$US)), <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Ex. Everingham (Jeffrey Hoare Auctions #13, 26-28 October 1989, Lot #2455 (Sold 2250$)).<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Census on the BL-34, Wood 22<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Prices in this text are all in Canadian dollars except if mentioned otherwise.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Between 1987 and 1989 something special\u00a0happened to one of the rarest of all the Bust & Harp series. We saw their known population increased from 2 to 5. I am talking about the BL-34, Wood 22. Up to 1987 only the one from the Bank of Canada and the one from Warren Baker were officially reported. Rarer only is the BL-39A, Wood 35. Now over 20 years later, one was\u00a0<\/span>from Willey collection plus one more that was\u00a0<\/span><\/span>added in 2018<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>so we are currently at\u00a0<\/span>7<\/span><\/span>\u00a0known only.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The current BL-34 for sell is the one talked here in the next few sentences.\u00a0Baker was the cataloguer of the Ernest Everingham collection of Canadian Blacksmith Coppers. He had placed an estimated of 4500$ while it sold 2250$. Baker bought it from the sale, probably knowing that despite an increase of known specimens it was still a very difficult blacksmith to be had. He compared it to his own piece sold in 1987 by pointing out that Everingham one is “much better” and graded it “Fine-VF”. For his part Partrick graded it VF-30, showing once more than grading is an opinion, nothing more.<\/span>\u00a0I would be closer to Baker on that one\u00a0<\/span><\/span>if I am to grade it as we usually grade the blacksmith series.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Partrick most likely paid 2700$US Baker added an interesting “(1820)” in the sale description because it is not visible on any of the specimens but the one from the Bank of Canada (BoC), where it is faintly dated 1820 below the harp as we usually find the date on the harp tokens<\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Partrick sales “flooded” the market of that extremely rare token as he nearly owned half of all the known ones. Baker said in 2015, while cataloguing the Richard Cooper Collection that 5 or 6 were known. I was able to trace 7. The three from Partrick, the one from the BoC, the two sold by Geoffrey Bell Auctions in 2015 (Ex. Buth and Ex. Cooper) and 2018, and at last the one I last heard of, the one from Willey. Robins didn’t have one.<\/span><\/p>\n

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From the drawing of Wood<\/span>\u00a0it is obvious that he had access to a piece with a date and one with a piece of harp from the top right showing on the reverse. On the obverse he had one with a full head visible<\/span>\u00a0including the laurels<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Courteau writes more about the dated token as he mentioned that \u201cIt is not possible to define the number of strings as the upper part of the harp… is not well struck\u201d.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The one in the care of the BoC is known to have been<\/span>\u00a0in both Wood and Courteau collections<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0I believe\u00a0<\/span>that\u00a0<\/span><\/span>what\u00a0<\/span>is\u00a0<\/span><\/span>most likely<\/span>\u00a0to have happened is<\/span><\/span>\u00a0that\u00a0<\/span>Wood<\/span><\/span>\u00a0had access to\u00a0<\/span>at least\u00a0<\/span><\/span>2 different pieces. Since only two are showing the upper right part of the harp, I assume that he had access to one of these two<\/span>\u00a0as well as the dated one<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>A<\/span><\/span>dditionally<\/span><\/span>\u00a0to show the top of the harp they\u00a0<\/span><\/span>were both\u00a0<\/span><\/span>showing the full head<\/span>\u00a0design with laurels<\/span><\/span>,<\/span><\/span>\u00a0those details are\u00a0<\/span><\/span>missing from the one showing the date.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Possibly\u00a0<\/span><\/span>the number 2 from my list<\/span>\u00a0(see below)<\/span><\/span>. The alternative is that a piece\u00a0<\/span>exists\u00a0<\/span><\/span>out there<\/span>\u00a0that remains<\/span><\/span>\u00a0unknown to most of us that would match all these criteria.<\/span>\u00a0The BL-33, Wood 21 does share the same obverse. The one that is known to have been his doesn\u2019t show the laurels and a very well struck top of the head as his drawing are depicting. From Wood own article he mentions Barton and Courteau for the 22. Maybe one of them had more than a piece or they have previously seen another one with the laurels and a complete harp at the top.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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In his 1985\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Numismatics Catalogue No. 33<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Bak<\/span>er wrote for the Ex. Fargeon BL-34 now in his care the following next to the picture, \u201cBarton?\u201d<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>He suspected it might have been the one from Barton and I think he was most likely right as it would explain the drawing of Wood with only 2 specimens, and not three with the current state of things. As things are now I doubt we will ever find a solid answer to that question.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Interesting fact, 4 out of 6<\/span>\u00a0pieces I could see<\/span><\/span>\u00a0are clipped,\u00a0<\/span>all of them<\/span><\/span>\u00a0twice clipped.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Specimens we know and what we know about them:
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\n<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Bank of Canada<\/span>\u00a0Currency Collection<\/span><\/span>\u00a0(BCCM 1970.0013.00031),\u00a0<\/span>Ex. Baker,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Ex. Mabbott, Ex. Courteau, Ex. Wood. It weighs 4.29 grams. 25.9 mm in diameter. Die orientation\u00a0is North\/North.<\/span>\u00a0Not clipped.<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Ex. Partrick, Ex. Baker(Bowers & Merena, 26-28 March 1987, lot #1056, 5300$(4070$US)), Ex. Fargeon. Last sold publicly\u00a0during the first part of the Donald G. Partrick Collection sale by Heritage Auctions, 21 March 2021, sale #61202, lot #97261. It sold 1500$<\/span>(1200$US)<\/span><\/span>. It weighs 4.27 grams. It’s diameter is 26.2 mm. Die orientation is North\/West.<\/span>\u00a0Not clipped.<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Ex. Partrick, Ex. Baker. Ex. Barton. Last sold publicly during the first part of the Donald G. Partrick Collection sale by Heritage Auctions, 21 March 2021, sale #61202, lot #97260. It sold 1650$<\/span>(1320$US)<\/span><\/span>. It weighs 4.32 grams. It’s diameter is 25.83 mm. Die orientation is North\/West.<\/span>\u00a0Clipped.<\/span><\/span>
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4. Ex. Partrick, Ex. Baker(Private sale, 15\/12\/89, 3000$(2700$US)), Ex. Everingham(Jeffrey Hoare Auctions #13, 26-28 October 1989, Lot #2455 (Sold 2250$)).\u00a0Las<\/span>t<\/span><\/span>\u00a0sold publicly during the second part of the Donald G. Partrick Collection sale by Heritage Auctions, 18 April 2021, sale #61206, lot #98276. It sold 1200$<\/span>(960$US)<\/span><\/span>. It weighs 3.89 grams. It’s diameter is 25.7 mm. Die orientation is North\/West.<\/span>\u00a0Clipped.<\/span><\/span>
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5.\u00a0<\/span>Ex. Cooper,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Ex. Buth(Jeffrey Hoare Auctions #29, 25-26 February 1994, Lot #461 (Sold 1675$)). Last sold publicly by Geoffrey Bell Auctions and was part of the Richard Cooper Collection, 1 October 2015, Toronto Coin Expo fall sale, lot #225. It sold 4860$. It weighs 4.12 grams. It’s diameter is 26 mm. Die orientation is North\/West.<\/span>\u00a0Clipped.<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

6. Ex. Willey, currently in a private collection.<\/span><\/p>\n

7<\/span><\/span>. Newest one, last sold publicly\u00a0during the Toronto Coin Expo Fall 2018 sale by Geoffrey Bell Auctions, 27 September 2018, lot #441. It sold 2400$. It weighs 4.<\/span>31<\/span><\/span>\u00a0grams. It’s diameter is 2<\/span>5.9<\/span><\/span>\u00a0mm.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Die orientation is North\/North.\u00a0<\/span>Clipped.<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Unaccounted pieces that might be linked to one of the above.
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A. Ex. Wilson from the 17 November 1925 sale catalogued by Wayte Raymond where it was paired with a Breton 1008 (Wood 19 or 20)<\/span>, the lot sold for 53$US. That was a hefty sum back then.<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

B. Ex. Wickham from the Schulman fixed price list in 1947, Wood 22, priced at 1.50$US, funnily enough most of the Blacksmith tokens from the Wood series are priced at the same price<\/span>\u00a0probably because he didn\u2019t know how rare it was<\/span><\/span>. An important mention to\u00a0<\/span>a<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Blacksmith that is not from Wood is the BL-31, Co 360NS that was priced at 15$US. They claimed that it “is about the best we ever saw.”. It was priced 10 times higher than the\u00a0<\/span>BL-34<\/span><\/span>.<\/span>
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The sudden increase of known specimens had an obvious steep decrease in its value after 1987.\u00a0<\/span>We certainly have seen a similar scenario play this time around with the sale of Partrick having several specimens offered\u00a0publicly.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>One<\/span>\u00a0of the\u00a0<\/span><\/span>reason<\/span>s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0I made that list was to help people realized how rare this Blacksmith token is despite that and how important it is.\u00a0<\/span>After all m<\/span><\/span>ost<\/span>,<\/span><\/span>\u00a0if not all<\/span>,<\/span><\/span>\u00a0pieces were at some point or another into an important collection. Several pedigree were lost such as Wilson, Wickham and probably more.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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In 1994 during the Numismatic Sale No 29 of Jeffrey Hoare Auctions, lot #461, it was mentioned that there are “six pieces known”. I arrive\u00a0<\/span>now\u00a0<\/span><\/span>at\u00a0<\/span>7<\/span><\/span>\u00a0but perhaps I couldn’t account for all of them. At the time of th<\/span>at<\/span><\/span>\u00a0sale I wouldn’t have been able to reach 6 with the current data I was able to gather. Maybe the number should be\u00a0<\/span>instead 8<\/span><\/span>\u00a0or even more. It might be the one from the P. M. Wickham collection<\/span>\u00a0o<\/span><\/span>r the one from the\u00a0<\/span>first\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Wilson sal<\/span>e. In these cases there are often a few more pieces not accounted for that stayed in one single collection or that were sold privately. Or yet, still to be discovered. I\u00a0<\/span><\/span>deliberately\u00a0<\/span><\/span>omitted the lot 3771 from the Dunham sale in 1941 catalogued by Max Mehl as it wasn\u2019t clear at all if it was a BL-34 or what it was exactly. The only thing mentioned is that \u201cAnother piece in same lot, but of different die.\u201d So the only thing we know with certitude is that there were not two Breton 1008 (BL-32) in the lot.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thanks to Ray Malone and Christopher Faulkner for sharing some information with me. Thanks to David Bergeron from the Bank of Canada for sending me the measurements and a set of new pictures from that special piece as it’s the only known one dated. If you have one specimen that is not appearing in the list I’ll gladly add it.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Bibliography<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

-Baker, Warren. 1985. Numismatics – Catalogue No. 33.
\n-Baker,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Warren. 26-28 October 1989. Jeffrey Hoare Auctions, Sale #13, The Ernest Everingham collection of Canadian Blacksmith Coppers.\u00a0<\/span>
\n-Chapados-Girard, Cl\u00e9ment. 2020. A Charlton Standard Catalogue, Canadian Colonial\u00a0<\/span>T<\/span><\/span>okens, 10th edition.<\/span>
\n-Haxby, J.A. & Willey, R.C. 2018. Coins of Canada, 36<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/sup><\/span>\u00a0edition.<\/span><\/span>
\n-Hoover, Oliver D. August 2014. “Blacksmith Copper Metrology”.\u00a0<\/span>The Colonial Newsletter<\/i><\/span><\/span>, no. 155.<\/span>
\n-Ingram, Gregory S. & Marelic, Branko. 2004. The Bust and Harp Tokens of Canada, First edition.
\n-Jeffrey Hoare Auctions Inc. 25-26 February 1994. Sale #29.<\/span>\u00a0Cataloguer not mentioned.<\/span><\/span>
\n-Lorenzo, John P. 19 January 2018. Forgotten Coins of the North American Colonies, 25<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/sup><\/span>\u00a0anniversary edition.<\/span><\/span>
\n-Oppenheim, Michael. 26-28 March 1987. Bowers & Merena, Sale #88,\u00a0The Warren Baker Collection of Canadian Coppers.
\n-Mehl, B. Max. 3 June 1941. Sale #97. William Forester Dunham Collection.
\n-Raymond, Wayte. 16-18 November 1925.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Anderson Galleries.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>The W. W. C. Wilson Collection.<\/span><\/span>
\n-Schulman, Hans M. F. 1947. Fixed price list No. 30, Coins of Canada.
\n-Wood, Howland. April 1910. “The Canadian Blacksmith Coppers”.\u00a0<\/span>The Numismatist,\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/span>Vol. XXIII.<\/span><\/div>\n

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______________________________<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BL-34, Wood 22 3.89 g, 25.7 mm, Orientation is North\/West Graded by NGC VG-8. It was removed from the holder. Ex. Partrick (HA, Auction 61206, Lot 98276, 1200$(960$US)), Ex. Baker (Private sale, 15\/12\/89, 3000$(2700$US)), Ex. Everingham (Jeffrey Hoare Auctions #13, 26-28 October 1989, Lot #2455 (Sold 2250$)). \u00a0 Census on the BL-34, Wood 22 \u00a0\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":34058,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[460],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-34057","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-blacksmith","7":"pa_country-region-of-manufacture-canada","8":"pif-has-gallery","10":"first","11":"outofstock","12":"taxable","13":"shipping-taxable","14":"purchasable","15":"product-type-simple"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetonscanada.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/34057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetonscanada.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetonscanada.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetonscanada.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetonscanada.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetonscanada.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=34057"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetonscanada.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=34057"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetonscanada.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=34057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}