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Vol. 8, No. 3 March, 2009
MICCy Speaks News Release: Manz Auction # 6 "The First Dominion of Canada Cents, 1876" "A Canadian Bank of Commerce Vignette" "The First British 'Commonwealth' Coins" "The Co-op Scrip of the Saanich Peninsula " (Burry) In October, 1975, a total of twenty $1 notes (Serial Nos. D/I 4001180 through 4001199) were laser-tagged by the Bank of Canada for coating and filling tests conducted by Pierce & Stevens Canada Ltd. of Fort Erie . Although well past the introduction of the 1973 $1 series, the notes were of the Modified 1954 type. The Mid-Island Coin Club,Meetings: The second Thursday of every month at 7:00 p.m. , Dues: $12 per year. Mailing Address:
Mid-Island Coin Club, c/o West Coast Stamp & Coin, 4061 Norwell Drive , Nanaimo , B.C. V9T 1Y8
Executive Officers:
President: Felix Stawski
The February meeting was attended by 25 members and guests, a respectable number. Under New Business, it was decided that the Great Mid-Island Barbecue will be held this July in Cedar and the necessary budget carried; stay tuned for further details. An executive meeting was held February 25 and a number of matters brought up that will require the approval of the club as a whole. (1) You will note a new seating arrangement that we hope will be an improvement, allowing more room for bourse display and more user-friendly for such present or future members as have difficulty walking. As well, your President's dulcet tones should carry all the better and Jim not have to conduct the auction from the next Regional District. Please be prepared to voice your approval - or lack thereof - of such arrangement past, present or future. (2) There will be discussion of the Barbecue this summer, especially as to the date - tentatively set for July 19. When details have been hammered out, a map will appear in this Journal making the site easy to find. (3) There will also be discussion of our participation in the VIEX this August (21, 22 and 23). The program for the March meeting will be an exercise in coin grading that will extend over several meetings. Since we need some sort of common standard, it has been decided that the grades will be according to the Willey/Charlton book "Standard Grading Guide for Canadian etc Coins". If you have a copy, either old or new, please bring it along. As well, all members should equip themselves with a make-em-big glass. Finally, grading requires good light, so if you have a spare desk lamp, tensor light etc that we could use for the evening, it would be appreciated. ************************************************************************
George Manz Auctions Presents: Auction # 6.
The Regina Coin Club's Spring Show will be the venue for the sixth in a series of auctions by George Manz Coin Auctions. The auction includes Part III of the George Manz Sr. Collection (the father of the auctioneer) as well as Part V of the Roy Miller Collection. The first lot at auction among the 218 lots is a denarius that depicts Caracalla on the obverse and Hercules on the reverse. Struck at the Rome Mint in 213, the EF condition coin is expected to realize $150. The second lot is a rare medieval English silver penny struck for Edward I. Spink notes that this particular coin "rarely" comes with the EDWR legend. World coins include a six-sided 1943 Belgian Congo 2 Francs that depicts an elephant, a lovely example of a Russian silver kopek made from wire during Peter the Great's reign, and a Santo Domingo 4 Maravedis that was the first coin minted in the Caribbean in the 1500s. While the American section at auction is slim, it does contain a rare 1942 2/1 overdate dime. In F-12 condition, the coin will start at $250, about a third of its retail price. Only infrequently do coins that circulated in Canada before Confederation come up at auction. Lot 14, a 1790 1 real of Charles IV that depicts the Pillars of Hercules on the reverse, is one of the Spanish American coins that once circulated in pre-Confederation Canada. The bidding begins at a paltry $5. Canadian decimal coins are once again the strength of this auction. There are many George V and VI small cents at auction, most of them in ICCS MS-63 or MS-64 Red holders. The highlights of the silver 5 cents is a beautiful 1890H with Error I's in the obverse legend. The unlisted coin, graded AU-50 by ICCS, has wonderful lustre with light golden toning around the edges, and is expected to sell for $500. Canadian nickels include a large number of Hans Zoell varieties as well as several MS-65 nickels. The 25 cents section begins with an extremely rare 1872H A/V, which Charlton describes as having been made from refurbished dies. One of only nine coins of this variety certified by ICCS, the VG-8 coin is expected to see spirited bidding, beginning at $2,000. By far the most interesting section of Canadian decimal coins is the silver dollar section. The section begins with a rare 1935 raised J.O.P. countermarked by Nelson, B.C. jeweler Joseph Oliva Patenaude, a rare 1948, a 1966 small beads mule graded PL-63 by PCGS, and an extremely rare double-struck 1967 with two images of Elizabeth and goose. Canadian $5 gold is represented by a lovely 1912 graded MS-62 by PCGS. The auction also contains Royal Canadian Mint products, Newfoundland , counterstamped coins, errors, medals, trade dollars and tokens, and military medals (including one from the Grand Army of the Republic). Paper money includes a large assortment of radar notes, inserts, and replacement notes, as well as a Canadian $5 War Savings Certificate from World War II. The numismatic book section includes the 1959 CNA Convention Program and Auction Catalogue as well as the first issue of Canada Coin News, now called Canadian Coin News. The auction will take place at the Regina Coin Club's Spring Show on Saturday, April 18 at the Western Christian College gymnasium in Regina . Lots can be viewed in the bourse from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. , while the auction begins at 7:00 p.m. Those wishing to receive the auction catalogue by e-mail should send their e-mail address to George Manz at: george@georgemanzcoins.com. The catalogue can also be viewed at www.georgemanzcoins.com. There is no buyer's fee in this auction. By mail: George Manz Coins, P.O. Box 3626 , Regina , SK , Canada S4P 3L7 . Phone: (306) 352-2337
***************************************************************** The First Dominion of Canada Cent, 1876.
Back in 1858/9, the Province of Canada had gone to decimal coinage with an over-enthusiastic issue of 10-million cents. It was 17 years before there was a need for more. For whatever reason, someone decided to make the cents weights and measures as well: 100 of them equaled a pound and each had a diameter of exactly one inch. The Canadian public remained largely unaware of these features and when the next issue of cents - Dominion of Canada this time - were needed in 1876, they went the same route as adopted by Nova Scotia , New Brunswick , Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island , having them struck on British halfpenny planchets (80 to the pound). By 1876, the Royal Mint was really in no shape to accommodate Canada with a new coinage. Last updated in 1810, the Mint was in creaky condition now, requiring expansion as well as overhaul. Yet expansion was difficult; for more than 10 years the Mint's neighbours were successful in preventing its additional smoke and noise: a case of "not in my yard". By 1881, the Mint was successful in securing an adjacent plot and the updating could go forward, the whole accomplished in 1883. But from the time the Mint was able to strike only a part of the Canadian coinage in 1871 to 1884, all the Canadian coinage requirements were met by the Mint's subcontracting to Ralph Heaton & Sons, Birmingham (otherwise known as "The Mint, Birmingham"). This included the first issue of Dominion of Canada cents in 1876 (except for a few specimen patterns, known only with the "H" mintmark.). The issue was made quite late in the year. It was 2 Sept. 1876 when Sir John Rose, "Agent for Canada in Britain " made application to the British Treasury for an "Authority" to have the issue struck. Sometime before 26 September this was received for on that date Rose ordered the cent coinage from the Deputy Master of the Mint. In this letter, Rose notes that "the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury have sanctioned the execution .. by Messrs Ralph Heaton & Sons of Birmingham" and that "The Bronze cents are to be similar to those formerly executed for Canada, except that the Head of Her Majesty on the Bronze cent of Prince Edward Island is to be substituted for the former one on the obverse side.."
On 28 September, C.W. Fremantle, Deputy Master of the Royal Mint, contacted Sir John Rose, notifying him that the new cents would bear the effigy recently used on those of P.E.I. and that "the necessary punch is in the course of preparation and will be transmitted to Messrs R. Heaton & Sons in about a week." Sometime in the interim, the Mint had prepared "Pattern DC-1" using the old Young Head from 1858/9. The P.E.I. obverse was actually that of the Jamaican halfpenny, in use since 1869 and used without modification. This time, the legend had to changed and since Leonard C. Wyon, the engraver, later privately charged Canada only the sum of £6 sterling, we know that the modification process used a P.E.I. punch and was not created from scratch. For their part in the manufacture of the new obverse master die, the Royal Mint charged Canada £5.5s. Subsequent die replication and manufacture would have been included within the normal "minting charges" of 10% face of the shipment. It would have gone as:
a. b. c. d. The positive punch for a Prince Edward Island cent (a) had the legend removed by engraving or grinding (b) . From it, a negative die was pressed (c) on which Wyon punched in the new legend (d) in mirror-image as usual. (d) then became a "master die", used to raise a number of positive punches (or "hubs") and each of them used to sink a number of "working dies" which struck the actual coins. The reverse may have seen some minor touching-up but mostly it was used as-is from the 1858/9 cent coinage - and as the so-called "Provincial Leaves", continued to be used until cent production moved from Heaton's back to the Royal Mint in 1884. We presume that the reverse master dies or production punches were all "dated" 18-- until actually made into working dies or in batches from a fully dated master-production die. Unfortunately, we have very little in the way of primary documentation for those issues struck at Heaton's, although it may well still exist in their files. For instance, we don't know the exact cost to Canada for this issue, but being a very respectable 4-million pieces ($40,000 or £8,219.3s.9d sterling)), we can only interpolate from another 4-million cent issue of 1888. In that latter case, the costs were: Metal planchets: £2,025. 13s. 4d Mint charge (10% of £8,219.3s.9d) 821. 18s. 4d £2,847. 11s. 8d In this case, we see that Canada received a cent shipment of £8219.3s.9d sterling for a total cost of £2847.11s.8d, a "profit" of £5371.12s.1d - or about 65.35%. The margin was always quite large on bronze cents because of its small "bullion" cost - but silver was struck at actual metal costs (usually paid for by Canada to some London bullion dealer for shipment directly to the Mint) plus 3% face minting charge. As the price of silver slowly dropped after 1870, there was a good "profit margin" in these coins as well. Good enough that it formed a solid argument against the establishment of a Canadian mint that would be expected to strike only Canadian coin. The draining away of Yukon gold to the U.S. and a certain rising nationalism was needed to overcome this.
Sir Charles Fremantle, Robert Hill, Superintendent Royal Mint, There was something slightly strange concerning the production of the 1876 cents at Heaton's, since it seemed to fly in the face of Royal Mint practice, if not the law. From other documents in reference to coin in noble metals produced outside the Mint (read: Heaton's) we see that at best the actual working dies and collars were supplied to them, all carefully registered and fully accounted for at both ends of the project. The cents were something different - perhaps because they weren't in noble metals? Here we see the production punches only were supplied to Heaton's, that firm replicating the working dies for their own use. Strictly speaking, this would have been illegal under Mint regulations, but perhaps the Mint was just being realistic, scarcely able to handle more than the domestic coinage itself. Perhaps Heaton's even kept these punches "on file" - although it would seem unlikely. As with other colonial coinages struck at Heaton's under contract, overseeing by the Mint was done. In this case, there were no fewer than four overnight visits to Heaton's by Robert Hill, Mint Superintendent (Oct 30/31, Nov. 7/8, Nov. 17/18 and Nov. 24/25) for which Canada was charged his expense account and wage totalling £12.6s. The first visits may have been to oversee the manufacture of the dies, the later the actual coinage since even 4-million coins would not take Heaton's too long to strike with their advanced technology - much superior to the Mint's at the time. Some time between Hill's last visit and 1 December, the cents were finished and shipped since the latter date was that of the Mint's final invoice to Canada . In a way, nearly all Canada 's cents struck 1876 through 1882 were "Heaton-type" issues. All of them used the "Provincial Leaves" reverse while all of those struck by the Royal Mint when it took back the manufacture in 1884 were of the touched-up "Large Leaves". Nearly all of the Heaton issues 1876-82 used the "Portrait 1" obverse and it progressively broke down with use, necessitating more and more touching up of the legends by repunching; a "perfect" 1882 Portrait One, for instance, nearly unknown. Some time through this last coinage, the Royal Mint was forced to have Wyon refurbish the One into a new Portrait 2. By its relative rarity today, it seems to have appeared somewhere at the 35-40% point of the 1882-H cent issue, the new Two being used for the next ten years. As before, the 1876-H issue was somewhat too large for immediate needs; no more were required for another five years. After that, cents appeared in most years. *****************************************************************
A Canadian Bank of Commerce Vignette.
In a general overhaul of their bank note designs beginning in 1888, the Canadian Bank of Commerce included a new $50 denomination design beginning in 1893. The design was by the American Bank Note Company and depicted a seated woman with a lyre leaning on an urn from which water is spilling. What it was supposed to represent is hard to determine - perhaps celebrating clumsy musicians. In any case this vignette was the central design of a number of $50 CBC issues until supplanted in 1917 - and even then it was resurrected for a couple of $5 issues for the West Indies by this bank in the 1920s.
From first to last, the face design of the $50 note didn't change much - mostly it was the notation of the date of issue, the one above being that of 8 January, 1907 . All such early issues are rare, that above noted in an older auction catalogue as being one of five known. The first issue - that of 3 July 1893 - looked much the same as the above but this first issue contains some of Canada's most sought-after rarities since some were overprinted YUKON twice in (according to Krause) red, green or orange letters. The 1893 issue was followed by that of 2 January 1901 and some of them were also overprinted in red or green DAWSON . Such overprinted issues were for use in the Klondike gold fields by the Canadian Bank of Commerce who was one of the first to set up shop there. The notes were overprinted so as to be repudiated in case of loss and none were valid until fully signed at the time of use. Although the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) even today continues the fiction that they first operated out of tent, that's not quite true. The "tent" photos were staged during the trip by bank employees on their way to Dawson ; the first bank operation was out of a secure building.
The last $50 issue by the CBC using this design was that shown above, that of 1 May 1912 . It was used until superceded in 1917. In all there had been five dates of issue: 3 July 1893 ; 2 January 1901 ; 2 January 1906 ; 8 January 1907 and 1 May 1912 , the first and second issues including the overprints.
But although gone from Canadian circulation, the old $50 design was used again by the Canadian Bank of Commerce on $5 denomination notes for the West Indies . That shown above is for the Bridgetown branch in BARBADOS . All were of the issue date 2 January 1922 in this case although there were two signatures: B.E. Walker (shown here) or John Aird since the same note was used until 1940 when the designs were changed by this bank. As we can see, the denomination was for "5 Dollars in Barbados Currency" and was not, of course, valid in Canada . Almost exactly the same design was used for a similar $5 note for use in Port of Spain , TRINIDAD and so overprinted. In this case, the issue date was 1 March, 1921 and was signed only by the same B.E. Walker. These notes were superceded in 1939. Altogether, this particular vignette was used on the CBC notes from 1893 ( Canada ) to about 1940 ( West Indies ). A long time. ************************************************************************
The First British " Commonwealth " Coin.
If we discount the coinages struck by the English for their possessions in France and Ireland - all of which they treated as being physically part of their realm - the first such "overseas" coinage was strange- that of a private company: the British East India Company whose issue was forced on them by the Crown. There were a good many "East India Companys": Britain , Holland , France , Denmark , Scotland , Spain , Austria and Sweden all had one at some point. Oddly, the first traders into the " Spice Islands " - typically Indonesia - did not; they were the Portuguese who first started to operate in the late 1500s. At first as allies, the Dutch became the distributors of spices through Europe for Portugal but that came to an end with the Wars of the Reformation and the fight for Dutch independence. The Dutch now had their own loose-knit band of traders to the Indies and were successful enough to capture a major part of the trade. Perhaps too much so; their monopoly tactics of raising the European price of pepper from 3s to 8s per pound directly resulted in the British setting up their own competition, one that would ultimately dominate them all: the British East India Company. Founded by Royal charter dated 31 December 1600 , the Company was given sole rights of British trading from the Cape of Good Hope to the Straits of Magellan - pretty much the entire Indian and Pacific Oceans - for a period of 15 years. There were 125 original stockholders who put up a total of £72,000 capital. Returns were excellent, in some years dividends of more than 100% being paid. An early weakness permitted individual stockholders to outfit their own trading expeditions under the charter's umbrella, taking all the risks and keeping all the profit. As might be expected, this gave rise to combat in the hinterlands between shareholders and in 1612, the Company was made a joint stock venture. They were also acquiring bits of territory, the first "stations" being founded on the Indian mainland at Masulipatam and Pettapoli in 1610/11. The original charter granted the Company rights that even colonies of a later date would not have, among them the right to make treaties of war and peace as well as the right to coin their own money. This latter was enthusiastically endorsed by Queen Elizabeth who "strongly suggested" coinage carrying her portrait mated with a "portcullis" reverse in something of an imitation of the Spanish "pillars". At the time, Spanish (or rather Spanish- American ) silver was that typically used in the Indies trade and Elizabeth wished to give notice that there were "powerful princes" in Europe aside from Spain, her deadly enemy. The shareholders probably didn't want to go to this expense but Elizabeth made it part of the charter conditions that no less than £6000 in this special trade money form part of any coins or bullion to be shipped out annually. Thus, the Portcullis coins really form no part of the later British East India Company coinages but were rather a forced issue under royal prerogative for use by all British traders in the East Indies . But her courtiers had to delicately point out that many of the East Indians were of the Moslem faith, to whom a graven image was anathema; presumably they didn't further point out that the portrait of a woman was even worse (the popular Maria Theresa thalers in the Arab world from centuries hence notwithstanding). So the design of the finished coin showed the crowned royal arms combined with the portcullis reverse.
Struck at the Tower Mint, London , a total of £6000 face value were issued in four denominations. Slightly better in fineness than the Spanish, the coins were of sterling silver, .925 fine, but with weights adjusted to equal the common Spanish pieces. The Spanish coins were normally of 8-, 4-, 2- and 1-real; these portcullis pieces were of "testerns" instead, one of which equaled a real (actually weighing about 3.42 grams). In a sort of way, the Portcullis pieces are also dated, the "O" annulet at the beginning of the obverse legend being the privy mark of the Tower Mint for the year 1600 (in our calendar 25 March 1600 to 24 March 1601); it can also be taken as the final digit of the date: (160)0. We have no idea as to the breakdown by denomination except to note that only the crown-size "8 testern" is not known with two varieties. All denominations are much the same in design, the reverse legend "Posvi Deum Adjutorum Meum" translating "I have made God my helper". (Bit arrogant, what?) They weren't a particular success and their issue was a charter condition successfully evaded by the shareholders in future. It was cheaper to use Spanish silver, just like everyone else. ************************************************************************ Co-Op Scrip of the Saanich Peninsulaby Ralph Burry (Reprinted from The Canadian Token , January, 1984. Used with permission)
Many parts of Canada , especially the rural areas, have what is known as Co-Op stores where people band together and take out shares in a company to open an outlet store for themselves and buy foodstuffs and hardware, etc, in bulk lots and purchase these at a reduced rate and also reap dividends each month from the Company.
(illustrations about 75% actual size) The Peninsula Co-Op of Saanich, Vancouver Island , B.C., was started about May 15th, 1977 and has been quite active and successful ever since. The Sonic Bucks were first put into use about September 1982 and anyone that bought groceries, etc, at multiples of Thirty-Three Dollars (33) would be given a Sonic Buck per each Thirty-Three Dollars spent which in turn could be spent at their Gas Bar for gasoline or anything the Gas Bar had for sale. The Sonic Bucks couldn't be traded in for cash. This service was extended to non-members as well for they were allowed to shop in the Co-Op store but did not share in the profits. On March 1st 1983 the Co-Op of Saanich decided to give the Sonic Bucks to members only at multiples of Forty-Five Dollars (45) for each Sonic Buck rather than Thirty-Three (33). These Scrip money are still current (i.e., as of 1984) and used only at one gas bar. These pieces of scrip are printed on white paper and are serial numbered. The Logo and the numbers (1) are in red while the rest of the printing and designs are green. The colors, red and green, are the Co-Op of the Peninsula 's colors.
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Mar 2009News Release: Manz Auction # 6 "The First Dominion of Canada Cents, 1876" "A Canadian Bank of Commerce Vignette" "The First British 'Commonwealth' Coins" "The Co-op Scrip of the Saanich Peninsula " (Burry)
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