Nova Scotia 's Mayflower on Coinage.

 

Properly speaking, the small trailing plant with the leathery leaves and fragrant white or pink blossoms is not a "mayflower" but rather "trailing arbutus" ( epigaea repens ). Although it grows abundantly in the open, mixed forests of Nova Scotia , it also occurs through much of eastern Canada and the U.S. as far south as Florida . In the north, it is notable in that it is among the earliest plants bearing fragrant flowers in the spring, frequently blooming while there are still patches of snow remaining in protected spots.

The practical pioneers may have sniffed the flowers but it's a safe bet they were well aware of the mayflower's traditional medical uses, passed down from the Indians. The leathery leaves contain arbutin , a substance that was held to be effective against "gravel" (kidney stones) and other disorders of the bladder, kidneys &c. The Shakers of Ohio sold this plant as "the gravel plant". Secondarily, it was a "blood purifier". However, caution had to be exercised since arbutin hydrolyzes into hydroquinone which can be toxic in quantity.

This low-growing plant of the heath family was always popular in Nova Scotia , even to having served as the masthead motif of Joseph Howe's influential Novascotian from 1825. By mid-century, it was serving as an emblem on Nova Scotian military buttons, stamps and coins.

The coins in question appeared in the year 1856 in the form of bronze halfpennies and pennies, the issue being 300,000 of the former, 150,000 of the latter. Before this all "quasi-official" (since all had provincial , but not British Treasury approval) Nova Scotia halfpenny and penny copper tokens (marked as such but really coins ) had carried a reverse design of a thistle, in keeping with the province's un-Latinized name of "New Scotland".

The Nova Scotia government did not have to bypass the British Treasury with this issue since the province had now been granted responsible government and a brief disagreement between New Brunswick and the Treasury a couple of years previously had established that coinage was now within provincial purvue. So a "request" (or "order") was placed for 300,000 halfpennies and 150,000 pennies with the Colonial Office; it was granted and forwarded for execution to the Royal Mint. However, that establishment was unable to take it on and, as became usual in later years, contracted out the order to Ralph Heaton & Son ("The Mint"), Birmingham , for the actual striking of the coins.

 

Nova Scotia One Penny token, 1856. The companion halfpenny was the same except for size and denomination.   Both were in "French bronze", used four years before Britain herself.

 

The dies for the new pieces were cut by Leonard C. Wyon, chief engraver of the Royal Mint, on contract. The designs he used were completely new. The province requested a "mayflower" for the reverse and this was executed admirably; it may be the finest design on Canadian coinage until fairly recent years. The head of Queen Victoria he used was also new - and unique in that it was never used anywhere else (although a similar head of an aged Queen was used later for some colonies). At a guess, it would seem to be a remake - and infinite improvement - over a similar head used on the New Brunswick copper tokens of 1843 (designer/engraver unknown).

But Wyon came up short in one respect. With the coin metal becoming bronze instead of the softer pure copper, this issue caused a lot of problems with Heaton's during striking. Typically, the head on the penny is not fully struck up, even on UNCs, the result of being cut with too high relief in the die. On the halfpenny, the lettering was too small and too high; Heaton's had a lot of trouble with filled letters, diebreaks and so forth. In fact, an 1856 Nova Scotia halfpenny, perfect except for wear, is something of a rarity. The number of minor varieties due to error are legion

We should also note that the mayflower holds the distinction of being Canada 's first official provincial floral emblem, being adopted by Nova Scotia as such in 1901.

The next time the mayflower appeared on Canadian coinage was on the gold $100 "collectors' coin" of 1977, commemorating the Queen's Silver Jubilee. The mayflower appears on the reverse as part of a bouquet made up of all the provincial floral emblems and is therefore very difficult to pick out on what is a fairly small (27mm, or just over 1-inch) coin. The piece, incidentally, contains exactly ½-ounce Troy of pure gold (gross weight 16.965 grams of gold .916 2/3 fine), no matter what the "denomination" shown.

The below is the last instance on which the Mayflower appeared on a Canadian coin. It is part of the "collectors'" series comprised of virtually pure gold coins issued annually in "denominations" of $350. In this case, the obverse for the 1999 issue has been used for illustration purposes, that of 2001 the same except for the change in date.

 

CANADA $350 Commem., 2001. Nova Scotia 's Mayflower emblem. Gold .99999 fine; Wgt: 38.05 grams, (1.22 oz Tr. pure gold); diameter: 34mm. Rev: Bonnie Ross (design.), Susan Taylor (modeller) Mintage: 1,988 cased proofs

 

Wayne Jacobs is a numismatic expert. Currently secretary and editor of the "Mid-Island Coin Club Numismatic Journal"of Nanaimo, Vancouver Island , British Columbia, he is the award winning author of numerous articles. The MICC journal are hosted here: MICC webpages Copyright 2006 Wayne Jacobs. This article may be reprinted freely for non commercial purpose only if the resource box is left intact, linking back to us.