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Vol. 8, No. 4 April, 2009
MICCy Speaks "A Proposed U.S. International Coinage" "When the 5-Cent ... Wasn't" "The Quebec Bank 'Waterfront'" "The Rosehill Farm Dairy of Saanich, B.C. (Greene)"
Above: The world's first circulating wooden nickel. Issued in Blaine , Washington , during the "Bank Holiday" of 1933, it was one denomination of five, 5¢ through $1. All were issued with serial numbers and initialed by F loyd C . G reen or E arle L . M cKinney. The Mid-Island Coin Club, Meetings: The second Thursday of every month at 7:00 p.m. , A.B.C. Restaurant, Mary Ellen Drive, north Nanaimo , B.C. 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 Vice-President: Joan Ryan Treasurer: Bob Bresden Secretary & Editor: Wayne Jacobs Directors: Bruce Bell, Art Doswell, Bill Lane Webmaster: (www.rightclickhome.com) Rob Tallone
The March meeting was attended by 25 members and guests.
It has been decided that the Mid-Island Coin Club Barbecue will be held at the home of J. Ryan in Cedar on the afternoon of Sunday, July 19, approximately between the hours of noon to 5 p.m. As in past years, there will be trading and bourse. Hot dogs, hamburgers and pop will be provided by the club; anything else, you gotta bring. Open invitation to all members, their families, collectors from other clubs, etc. Before the due date, a map will be published in the Journal so that the services of Search & Rescue are not additionally overburdened.
We will also be inquiring of the Vancouver Island Exhibition officials as to the feasibility of our having 3 tables, one of which will be available to sellers. M/S/C that the club acquire a large posterboard banner for our station there.
The March meeting saw a seminar conducted on the art of coin grading, with defining features to look for and a sort of test at the end. This was an important part of the evening but the size of the auction caused a certain amount of hustle to get everything in before the Restaurant dimmed its lights. Because of this, it was M/S/C, with an amendment, that in future the coin auction be limited to approximately 50 lots. This would seem to be a good balance between "number of lots per population" and the time allotted to specific parts of our program in an attempt to make it well-rounded.
Round and About: The Vancouver Numismatic Society Money Show will be held April 4-5 at the Oakridge Centre Auditorium. Contact: moogk@interchange.ubc.ca. Mentioned last month: George Manz' auction on April 18. See: george@georgemanzcoins.com ************************************************************************ A Proposed U.S. International Coinage.
Two benefits that remained in the backwash after the Napoleonic occupations receded was the decimal system and, for a number of the former occupied countries, a currency based on the French franc. The ease and widespread use were too obvious to ignore.
But there was a sort of financial nationalism in Europe and the gold coins of one country might be melted and made into that of another, even if those coins were of the same size and weight. Unfortunately, each coin by law had to contain its full face value in gold - which was fixed - with the consequence that every such coin was struck at a slight loss.
Therefore, because some countries were using the same coinage standard, there arose the Latin Monetary Union in 1865, the original members being France , Belgium , Switzerland and Italy with Greece joining two years later. Since all were already on the same standard, it was decreed that their gold coin, denominated in "units", were to pass freely as legal tender to any amount within the member countries. An Italian gold 20-lira, for instance, would pass as 20 francs in Antwerp , a Swiss gold 10-franc at 10 drachmae in Athens , and so forth. Also included were the silver "5-unit" crowns which, containing somewhat more silver in proportion to its fractions, were also interchangeable legal tender pieces. Some 10 or 15 years later, the crowns became an embarrassment as silver dropped and the members scrambled to strike large numbers in order to trade "cheap" silver for "expensive" gold. But since they all tried to do it, no one benefited. As a solution, the crowns ceased to be struck except as low-mintage commemoratives and their value taken by small 5-unit gold pieces. Paper money was not included except insofar as it had solid gold backing, and then only by banks and exchange houses.
Aside from the formal members, a number of other countries adopted the standard while not formally joining. These included Spain , Serbia , Romania and - furtherest afield - Venezuela . Russia even made her gold 7 ½ -roubles equal to the LMU 20-"units", the other denominations in proportion.
At the very moment that Canada became a Dominion (July 1, 1867), all the major western nations were meeting in conclave in Paris to explore an international currency, particularly one based on the LMU "units". The new Dominion, anxious to release its own indigenous coinage as a mark of sovereignty, was prevented from doing so by this very meeting. By law, the Canadian dollar was a gold dollar, made precisely equal to the gold content - and value - of the American gold dollar. But also by law, Canadian silver coins had to contain exactly as much silver as British coins of equal value - which is to say: a dollar in Canadian silver coins had to contain exactly 1000/4867th of the silver in a British pound sterling's worth of coins (four crowns or twenty shillings, etc). In sterling silver, the same as the British. The pound sterling was valued at $4.867 in both Canadian and U.S. currencies.
Should either the U.S. or Britain alter their currencies, any Canadian coinage would become obsolete and subject to withdrawal as well as (expensive) re-coinage. The Canadians didn't think the British would convert. To do so, pound sterling would have to be entirely jettisoned and replaced, hardly thinkable when the gold sovereign was the "King Coin" of the world and Britain 's the largest economy. But the U.S. was something else again and they were toying with the idea of making the U.S. dollar compatible.
The U.S. could have changed fairly easily. Already using a decimal coinage, by merely reducing the gold content of their coins by 3 ½ %, the Americans could have made their currency interchangeable at the rate of $1 U.S. = 5 LMU "units". In 1868, a bill was introduced - and passed - in Congress for that very purpose. Since it looked as if the U.S. was going to change, the Canadian parliament also passed a bill (though held in abeyance) making their currency compatible with the new U.S. standard. But the U.S. did not change, partly though nationalistic feelings: the dislike of adopting a "French" currency as well as "Why don't they increase their gold standards to ours ?" In the end, the bill was sent to committee for study and (so far as I know) is still there. The only tangible result was the striking of the pattern shown above for a future U.S. "Half-eagle" where $5 = 25 Francs. Rare, the pattern is nearly always in aluminum. Satisfied that the U.S. was not going to change, the Canadians never enacted the new-standard bill and in 1870 had their own Dominion coinage struck, first having ejected some $8 ½ -million of American silver coin.
Still, the idea of an international coinage was a long time dying in the U.S. In 1874, Dana Bickford - an inventor with influential friends - approached the problem from another angle. Having experienced difficulty in passing U.S. gold coins in Europe without a lot of computation, he advocated a U.S. gold coin which was already converted into its equivalent values in the main foreign currencies. Through his friendship with Mint Director Henry R. Linderman, Bickford was able to bypass the usual pattern process, the result being the above copper pattern. For a U.S. $10 coin, we see that it was equal to £2.1s.1d sterling; 41.99 Marken ( Germany ); 37.31 Kronen ( Scandinavia ); 20.73 Gulden ( Netherlands ); and 51.81 Francs (LMU). It never went any further.
Very briefly, international coinage surfaced again in the U.S. during the period 1879-80. Perhaps a slight forerunner was the striking of the short-lived 20-cent piece beginning in 1875. Worth only slightly more than the LMU 1-"unit" (19.3¢), it weighed the same as that coin although its fineness was .900 silver rather than the LMU's .835. In 1879 appeared one of the most common U.S. "patterns" - the gold $4, called a "Stella". This, and its multiple-counterpart, the "Quintuple Stella" ($20 face) were the results of the same forces advocating an international coinage as had been successful in calling the Paris Monetary Conference in 1878.
The 1879 "Stellas" were the immediate brainchild of John Kasson, U.S. Minister to Austria in that year. Finding that none of his U.S. gold coins could be spent there without a lot of tedious computations, he proposed that a U.S. piece should be struck that most closely resembled the popular Austrian 8-florin gold piece. That turned out to be a denomination that had never before appeared in the U.S. : the $4 piece. The new coin would also have the advantage of being only slightly heavier and more valuable than the very common gold 20-"unit" pieces of the LMU.
The "Flowing Hair" Stella, 1879. Actual diameter about 21mm
The Hon. John A. Kasson had all sorts of influential friends in the government as well as being part of an international-coin movement. Consequently, the project went ahead, patterns being manufactured and struck for distribution to the various committees. That shown above was the first struck: the 1879 "Flowing Hair Stella" by Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber. This was also the most common of the lot, an estimated 425 gold specimens being coined although they are also known in aluminum, copper and white metal (all in much fewer numbers). On the obverse is noted the weight: "6 (parts) G(old) .3 (parts) S(ilver) .7 (parts) C(opper) (for a total of) 7 GRAMS", everything separated by stars. On the reverse we see a center star containing the words "ONE / STELLA / 400 / CENTS", immediately surrounded by the legends E PLURIBUS UNUM ("Out of many, one") and DEO EST GLORIA ("God is glory"), then UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and FOUR DOL. around the rim.
In the same year, Barber's assistant, George T. Morgan also engraved a separate Stella obverse, this one depicting Liberty with coiled hair. They are much rarer, only an estimated 25 having been struck in gold (but a few additional pieces in other metals). Both of the types were repeated in 1880, about 25 "Flowing Hairs" and 20 "Coiled Hairs" being struck in gold. As before, there are a few additional specimens known in off-metals.
As part and parcel of the Stella project, a "Quintuple Stella" was also struck in 1879. Although a $20 gold piece, of which many were already being struck, the pattern displayed the fineness as an obverse legend: "30 (parts) G(old) 1.5 (parts) S(ilver) 3.5 (parts) C(opper) (totalling) 35 GRAMS". The giving of intrinsic composition and weight was thought to facilitate use of such coin in foreign exchange and markets. Very few were ever struck of this particular pattern and they are extremely rare today.
Pattern $20 "Quintuple Stella" pattern, 1879. As part and parcel of the general "Stella" scheme, there was at the same time corresponding patterns for the silver dollar. These were "goldoid" dollars, made of alloys patented by Dr. Wheeler Hubbell in an attempt to lessen the unpopular weight of the silver dollar coins by the inclusion of a small amount of gold. There were two types made at this time and each were struck in both 1879 and 1880. All are very rare. This was the last gasp of U.S. attempts to harmonize their coinage with international markets. The 20-cent piece, so frequently mistaken in circulation with the quarter, was discontinued and withdrawn. With domestic circulation already served by a $2.50 "quarter eagle" and a $5.00 "half eagle", there was no call for a $4 "stella" and they never went beyond the pattern stage. Neither did the "goldoid" dollars; with the western "silver interests" only recently successful in forcing the U.S. government to buy and coin silver well beyond domestic needs, they would certainly not wish to see "goldoids" whose sole purpose was to lessen the silver weight in each coin.
"Goldoid" Dollar, 1879 by Charles Barber. 25 Grams = 895.8 silver + 4.2 gold + 100 copper (Also struck in 1880)
"Goldoid" Dollar, 1879 by George Morgan. 14 grams = 15.3 gold + 236.7 silver + 28 copper This pattern was also struck in 1880.
Domestic coin continued on the same standard followed since 1837, a gold dollar defined as being 25.8 grains of .900 fine gold, multiples in proportion, with gold set at $20.67 U.S. per ounce. This was followed until the fall of the Gold Standard in the U.S. in 1934. Silver standards also remained as before, a silver dollar to contain 412 ½ grains of .900 silver while the fractions were to contain the equivalent of 25 grams of silver .900 fine per dollar face.
Canada ignored all of this once they had come to the correct conclusion by about 1870 that the U.S. was never going to change its standards. By the time they did, decades hence, it didn't matter.
When the 5-Cent . . . Wasn't.
Although officially - even in Mint documents - the U.S. did not strike a true 5-Cent piece (but rather "Half Dimes") until 1866, that's not true: the "Capped Bust" series of 1829-37 clearly carried the denomination "5 C." Although originating with a common source, the 5-Cents followed two streams for a time. The 1858 Province of Canada issue was certainly a take-off from the U.S. , even though the two showed different "denominations" on the coins themselves at the time.
The "Half Dime" (originally termed a "Half Disme") of 1792 actually appeared in the U.S. before the Mint was built. Researchers generally believe that the issue of about 1,500 pieces was struck in the cellar of saw-maker John Harper, hard by the future Mint site. For many years they were regarded as patterns but the Thomas Jefferson papers indicate that they were in fact delivered to Congress - and most of them in existence are damaged, holed and worn, seeming to show circulation. This was the end of the extra-Mint issues (there was also a matching "Disme") since the surety bonds were set extremely high by Congress and coining became an exclusively governmental function.
There has also been some controversy as to the pronunciation of "Disme". A few insist that it really was "diz-me"; most maintain it was "dyme" or "deem" with something of a nod to the latter. The term originated in the pioneer work on decimalization of 1585 by Simon Stevinus of Bruges intitled "De Thiende" ("The Tenth"), translated into French by Stevinus' printer, Christoffel Plantjin, as "La Disme" (where it was pronounced "La Deem").
Somehow there arose the "urban legend" that the obverse portrayed Martha Washington; it didn't - it's Liberty , "Par(ent) of Science & Industry". It is true that George Washington probably did supply a certain amount of silver plate for the issue to the amount of $100.
Regular issues of "Half Dimes" or "5 C." followed with fair frequency but rather small mintages until 1805, and then no more until 1829 after which they annually appeared in respectable numbers. (Note the 1805-29 gap; but more of that later).
But for many decades, the gap of what would ultimately become a "5-cent piece" was filled by old Spanish coins, and this was true even in the U.S. - at least up until 1827.
Back in 1684, Spain , broke again, resorted to digging up some funds by the simple expedient of tinkering with her circulating silver coin. Until this time, those of Spain itself and her Spanish American colonies were of the same standard, but a divergence occurred at this time. By lowering both the weight and fineness of her silver coin, Spain reduced its intrinsic worth by about 20% while continuing with he fiction that they were worth the same as before. This they called "New Plate" in contrast to the better "Old Plate". It worked with native Spaniards, who had no option, but it certainly did not with foreign exchanges where intrinsic value was everything; post-1684 Spanish silver was simply discounted 20%, leaving Spain no advantage at all. But since Spain 's only purposely exported silver coin was the crown-size 8-reales, this coin returned to "Old Plate" standards while leaving the fractional pieces at the new, poorer standard. In a way, Spain had created a "token coinage" for internal use, its export discouraged by the discount it would receive. But, over the years, a lot of this "New Plate" minor silver did leave Spain , the most popular denomination being the 2-reales, called the "pistareen" by British Americans who used it extensively.
For both Americans and Canadians, the pistareen and its fractions represented conveniently even values. In "Halifax Currency", whereby the Spanish-American 8-reales "dollar" was valued at 5-shillings (60d), the Spanish-American 2-reales was valued at 15d - but the Spanish 2-reales "pistareen", with its 20% discount, was an even 12d - or a "Halifax Shilling". Just as conveniently, the Spanish real was worth 6d and the common little ½ -real, 3d. When the Americans established their own currency based on the Spanish-American dollar, the discounted pistareen was 1/5th of a dollar (20¢), the Spanish real 10¢ and the half-real 5¢. By contrast, the better-standard Spanish-American silver of the same denominations were not so convenient. In American/Canadian " Halifax " currency, they were: 2-reales = 25¢/15d; 1-real = 12 ½ ¢/7 ½ d; ½ -real = 6¼¢/3¾d. Many times, these odd values were overcome by simply quoting prices in "bits" (Spanish-American 1-reales), each of which was 12 ½ ¢/ 7 ½ d.
The Spanish silver coins had another convenient feature: their fabric itself. The Spanish mints mechanized early, but with roller-minting equipment rather than "balancier"-type, rollers being superior at the time. Because the coins were rolled, they were wider and thinner than they would be later. Also, since the design on the Spanish silver consisted of a cross on the reverse, they almost asked to be "cut here". And they sometimes were. With nothing needed other than heavy scissors or shears, the coins could easily be cut into halves and quarters when smaller-denomination coins were in short supply. The 2-reales "pistareen", for instance, could easily be halved into a 1-real or quartered into a ½ -real.
Full 2-R "pistareen", 1722-Seville Mint, halved into a 1-real and quartered into a ½ -real.
Any cutting of the coin would probably have come to a near close for those struck after 1771. The "Classic pistareen" design above was in use for a long time, from the early 1600s until that date. In 1771, the Spanish mints updated from the roller-mint machinery to modern "swing-arm" types and a change of design was inaugurated at the same time to an obverse showing the King's portrait and a very small shield on the reverse. Roller-minted coins could be - and usually were - rather thin and wide since on the pass through the rollers, a small "wave" of metal preceded the pressure. Swing-arm presses applied force straight down and if the planchet was thin, would result in "ghosting" due metal flow. For this reason, planchets had to be thicker and of smaller diameter, to the greater difficulty of easy "shearing". We may reasonably presume that any Spanish coins dated after 1771 and circulating in British America/United States were used "whole". But then the little ½ -real, passing for 5¢ or 3d Halifax , remained an extremely common coin.
Either as cut pieces or whole, they must have been very common in North America . The U.S. coined half-dimes only until 1805 - and in quantities of only a few tens of thousands or less - and then none until 1829. It's quite obvious that this "denominational hole" was being filled by "pistareen"-type ½ -reales pieces. At this time, mintages jumped to an average of 1¼-million per year and appeared annually. How come?
By 1827, the Spanish-American colonies were for the most part independent countries and Spanish coins were volatile in weight and value during the Napoleonic Wars. With some reason, the U.S. decided that the old "pistareen"-type silver was badly worn, so much so that it was cried down from 1/5th to 1/6th of a dollar. Worn it may have been, but contemporary records show that a pistareen's bullion value, while less than 20¢, was more than 16?¢. Perhaps the U.S. Mint/government were looking for a cheap source of coinage silver - but if so, they didn't get it. Canada , for whatever reason, refused to follow the U.S. lead, continuing to value the pistareen at a full Halifax shilling for three years. As might be expected, these coins and their fractional parts fled north where their value was greatest. Then the Canadians also dropped them to 10d Halifax - the banks and all others who could , being careful to have none of hand at re-valuation day.
Although the Spanish ½ -real, in whatever form, was no longer a 5¢/3d piece, it didn't quite stop there. In 1850, the U.S. also devalued the Spanish- American fractional silver coin, heretofore with legal tender value at 8-reales to the dollar. The reason cited was excessive wear, and this may have been true, but - again - the 20% devaluation placed them at less than bullion value. This time, Canada and the provinces quickly followed suit, dropping a Spanish-American 2-reales from 15d to 12d Halifax . This meant that the Spanish- American ½ -real was now 3d Halifax , equal to 5¢. But within a few years, Canada had its own silver currency; that and such U.S. coin as seeped over the border was more than enough to spell the demise of all other foreign silver.
************************************************************************ The Quebec Bank "Waterfront".
For much of its long history, the Quebec Bank - one of Canada 's oldest (founded 1818) - used the typical allegorical designs on its notes. While this remained typical, the tradition was broken on the $10 note that first appeared 3 January 1898 using a vignette of the Quebec City docks - virtually a photographic reproduction - by the American Bank Note Company. On this particular denomination the "Docks" vignette was used until the literal end of the bank itself.
There were a number of varieties/ issue dates: ( 3 January 1898 ) (a) Front with black on olive-green underprint with blue back or (b) green back. (c) ( 1 June 1908 ) without text "Founded 1818" at top or (d) with "Founded 1818" at top (shown above). (e) face as last but with Quebec City - Hope Gate on back.
In 1917, after some 99 years of existence, the Quebec Bank - with assets of $22-million and 58 branches (mostly in Quebec ) - merged with the Royal Bank of Canada and passed from view.
************************************************************************ Rosehill Farm Dairy of Saanich, B.C.by Ron Greene (Reprinted from The Canadian Token , Sept. 1982. Used by permission.)
Ernest Stanley Goyette operated this short-lived dairy for only about 18 months or slightly longer. Like a number of other producer-vendors in the greater Victoria area, he started dairying during the depression of the 1930s. His was a small mixed herd not exceeding eight head. Milk was delivered throughout the city. A fire destroyed all the barns, and other farm buildings, except the main house, in July 1935. However, Mr. Goyette was able to keep operating for another six months beyond that date.
Mr. Goyette's great-grandparents, Richard and Jane Cheeseman, arrived at Craigflower in 1853. Mr. Cheeseman was in the employ of the Hudson 's Bay Company and came out on the third and final voyage of the vessel, Norman Morison , which left England in August 1852 and arrived off Victoria in the latter half of January 1853. Their first daughter was born on the voyage. The Cheesemans took up 164 acres a few miles north of the settlement, calling the area Royal Oak after their home in England . Richard Cheeseman was killed in November 1862 when he was thrown from his wagon. He left his widow and four daughters, the youngest of whom later became Mrs. Joseph Goyette. Two roads in the area, on what was the Cheeseman farm, are named after the family, Cheeseman Road and Goyette Road . The name of the farm, Rosehill Farm, stems from bunches of wild roses which grew in several locations on the hillside.
Although the old farm house that survived the fire of 1935 was destroyed some years ago, Mr. Goyette's son, Arnold, still lives on several acres of the original farm. For those familiar with Victoria , the farm bordered on West Saanich Road from Viewmont Road to St. Michael's Church. The original Royal Oak Hotel was located on a corner of the farm and operated by another Cheeseman daughter.
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April 2009A Proposed U.S. International Coinage The Rosehill Farm Dairy of Saanich, B.C. (Greene)
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