Large Pennies are uncirculated due to their high copper content. These coins were struck in Britain on the planchet of the British halfpenny and had a somewhat equivalent value. These coins were originally issued to bring some kind of order to the Canadian monetary system, which, until 1858, relied on British coinage, bank and commercial tokens, U.S. currency and Spanish milled dollars. The first issues, however, were unpopular and originally had to be sold at a discount.