Page 8 Advertisements Column 3

Hokitika Guardian, 8 December 1928, Page 8

OLD AUCKLAND PENNY. A 1 though it is 71 years old, a penny dug up in Vulcan Lane, where the street is being widened, is almost as bright as when it was minted. Its wonderfully well-preserved condition is ae•ounted for by the fact that it was buried deep down in the clay. On one side is “M. Somerville, whole sale family grocer. City Mart, Auckland,” and on the other the rose, the shamrock and the thistle surrounded by “New Zealand. 1857.” Somerville was a very well-known Aucklander, and for years he had a store on the corner of Shorthand and Queen Streets, which was known as “Somerville’s Corner.” Pennies such as this interesting reminder of Auckland, which was unearthed vesterday, were quite common forty years or so ago. They were called “tokens.” and were accepted as readil v as the pennies bearing the Queen's head.