|
|
Vol. 8, No. 8 August, 2009
"Mystery of the Quebec Bank Tokens, 1852" "Printing Canadian Currency in the 1950s" "The Empress of India $100 Commemorative, 1891-1991" .Above: Probable jewellry piece purporting to be a " British Columbia gold dollar" of 1849. The design is a direct copy of most pre-1908 American gold coins and was probably struck many decades after its displayed date. "Rare: 4 known" (Stacks). Illustration circa 2x. The Mid-Island Coin Club, Dues: $12 per year Mailing Address: Mid-Island Coin Club, c/o West Coast Stamp & Coin, Executive Officers: President: Felix Stawski
The July meeting was attended by 26 members and guests. It's gratifying to see attendance numbers stay up even in the Dog Days of summer.
The Great Mid-Island Barbecue has come and gone for another year; if you missed it, well, there's always next year. Attendance was very good, well over 30 collectors and guests. The weather was excellent - what you'd expect in Cedar: warm, tempered with cool zephyrs from the sea. The club would like to thank Joan and Bruce for the use of their home and grounds, as well as those members whose dedication made the event a success. * * * * *
Joy! The Canadian government, through its long arm of the law - the RCMP - has finally moved to crack down on unmarked "replicas" of Canadian coins by pointing out to eBay (the chief means by which Chinese "mints" introduce such things) that in continuing to allow this action, they are in violation of Canadian Criminal Code Section 450c (Those who introduce counterfeit Canadian coins into this country are guilty of a indictable offense) and Section 448a ("false coins or false paper money that resembles or is apparently intended to resemble or pass for a current coin or current paper money"). It is also pointed out that "current" describes Canadian decimals as far back as 1858 as they are still considered legal tender. That would seem to also cover any Canadian paper notes that still have a redeemable value, even those of the chartered banks. It remains to be seen how effective this move will be, but any is better than the "sit on your hands" of the past few years. (But in the more recent issue of CCN it was revealed that despite warnings to E-Bay, this junk was still being offered a couple of weeks hence). Big doin's at the August meeting. First of all, Joan will be giving out the marching orders to those who will man the tables at this year's Vancouver Island Exhibition . "Many hands make light work" and all that. As well, the August meeting will also see the ballots cast to determine this year's winner of the Bill Potts Memorial Trophy. Some years ago, the club determined that for the foreseeable future, this trophy would be presented to a new recipient each year. Thus far, there has been no reason whatsoever to change this decision. So, for those keeping score, the "ineligibles" so far are: Wayne Jacobs, Jeff Ross, Orest Minishka, Jim Bourgeois and Bob Breden. The trophy is for any other member who, in your opinion, has demonstrated the most work and dedication in the furthering of the Mid-Island Coin Club and numismatics in general. As the current holder of the trophy, Bob Bresden will oversee the balloting and do the count; only in case of a tie will Bob cast a ballot. He will also see to the engraving of the new name plate and present it to that member at the September meeting. Until that moment, the winner's name will be kept secret.
George Manz Coins & Auctions presents Auction #7 (Sept. 19)
MICC member George Manz has announced that the Regina Coin Club's Fall Show will be the venue for the seventh in a series of auctions by George Manz Coins & Auctions. The auction includes Part IV of the George Manz Sr. Collection (the father of the auctioneer) as well as Part VI of the Roy Miller Collection. The first lot at auction among the 298 lots is an Athenian tetradrachm that depicts Athena on the obverse and an owl on the reverse. The beautiful silver coin is expected to realize $750. Other ancients include a Roman Imperial AE follis of Galerius as Augustus and a Chinese Wang Mang spade issued 7-22 AD. World coin highlights include a Colombian leper coin, a British Trade Dollar and a rare Straits Settlements 1883H 10 cents. The small American section is led by an 1885S Morgan, a 1900 Quarter Eagle in MS64 and a 1909D $5 Half Eagle. Canadian decimal coins are once again the strength of this auction, including a large number of hard-to-get varieties. The 10 Cents section includes two rare 1875H 10 Cents, including one graded VF30 by CCCS that is expected to reach $2250. The 25 cents section includes a rare 1951 Low Relief graded MS62 by ICCS. By far the most interesting section is the silver dollar section, with almost every coin having a variety mentioned on the certification. The highlight is a 1948 silver dllar with a die rotation, graded MS60 by ICCS that is expected to sell for $2200. Gold coins include an outstanding 1918C sovereign graded MS63 by ICCS with a $1500 estinate and a 1914 $5 gold graded MS62 by PCGS that s expected to realize $2000. Newfoundland coins include a 1940 Re-engraved Date 1 Cent, a 1904H 20 Cents with rotated dies, and three $2 gold coins, including a scarce 1872 (one of only 6000 struck) graded AU58 by NGC. Errors include a rare 1875H 25 cents struck off-center with a baseball cap type effect and several other hard to find coins that somehow slipped out of Canadian and American mints. Rare tokens include Wellingtons with die rotations and clips, a Blacksmith token, a Devins & Bolton token, and a one-of-a-kind 1885 Willow Bunch 50 cents token. The diverse auction also includes counterstamps, encased coins, a hobo nickel, wooden nickels, a communion token, trade dollars and commemorative and military medals. Paper money is led by a rare Hudson 's Bay note and a 1935 English Small Seal $20 featuring Princess Elizabeth. The auction will take place at the Regina Coin Club's Fall Show on Saturday, September 19 at the Western Christian College gym in Regina . 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. ************************************************************************ The Mystery of the Quebec Bank Tokens, 1852.
The quite common Quebec Bank tokens dated 1852, consisting of halfpennies (Br-529, Ch-PC3) and pennies (Br-528, Ch-PC4), should not by rights exist - yet they do, and in quantity at that. At the time of their issue, Quebec was part of the united Province of Canada and as such, any copper currency - even tokens - was the exclusive purview of the appointed government bank, the Bank of Upper Canada during the period 1849-63. Further, all such issues required authorizations from the Canadian government and British Treasury, something that was strongly enforced in the Province of Canada after 1838. Following decimalization in 1858, the right of coinage was taken over by the Canadian government itself and no metallic issues intended for general circulation allowed by anyone else. Under the current rules, the 1852 token issue of the Quebec Bank would have been illegal - but were they? And, if not, why?
Quebec Bank ½d, 1852. Ch-PC3 Quebec Bank 1d, 1852. Ch-PC4 For the answer, we have to go back a few years. When Upper and Lower Canada were consolidated as "The Province of Canada" in 1841, the Bank of Montreal was appointed government bank for the whole. It was the institution in which the government made its deposits, drew its cheques, and whose paper notes it tended to use to a large extent. The Bank was also made responsible for supplying an adequate copper currency for circulation - but this was to their profit. On the debit side of the ledger, the Bank was to be the lender of last resort to the government. All these privileges and responsibilities the Bank of Montreal filled; years later, the Bank of Upper Canada did not , requiring millions of dollars in government support which it lost anyway. The large "Habitant" copper series, dated 1837, was by a consortium of four banks and only allowed to appear after martial law was declared in December 1837 making the unelected Special Council the sole governing body in Lower Canada . (The elected Assembly had refused to authorize the issue during this "Rebellion Year"). First appearing in late May, 1838, this copper issue was for Lower Canada only but upon amalgamation, copper-hungry Upper Canada had to be satisfied as well. This the Bank of Montreal did with their "Front View" halfpennies (dated 1842 and '44) and pennies (1842 only). It was a large issue - in fact there was yet another coinage of the halfpennies in 1845 with a frozen 1844 date. Invoices show that the Bank made good money (so to speak), paying them out at full face while the cost was only 2/3 that. Then crisis struck. The "Rebellion Losses Bill" of 1849 was passed, paying compensation to some rebels of 1837 as well as loyalists. The latter went berserk, charging that treason was being rewarded, and finished by burning down the Province of Canada parliament building located on Youville Square , Montreal . The shocked British immediately moved the seat of government from Montreal , perambulating between Toronto and Quebec City - and occasionally Kingston - until it was settled in 1857 at "Bytown", renamed Ottawa . But at the same time, the Bank of Montreal ceased to be the government bank, that function being passed over to the true-blue Tory Bank of Upper Canada , headquartered in Toronto . They held this position 1849-63, long after they were in effect broke, when it was returned to the Bank of Montreal. A creature of the Family Compact, the Bank of Upper Canada was unapologetically used by them to further their fortunes by whatever means necessary and their overextension into murky dealings in real estate and railways in the late 1850s brought them down. No sooner had they been named government bank than they moved to have their own token issue struck - which was needed as well as (happily) conducive to their profit margins. As early as February, 1850, they had received their license to import £5000 in copper coin; somehow, they ultimately parlayed this figure into £6,083. 6s. 8d (Halifax Currency), documents from a few years later showing that the total 1850 issue consisted of 1,460,000 halfpennies and 730,000 pennies. But there was a severe delay; documents also show that not a single "George and the Dragon" token appeared in Canada before very early 1853 !
It wasn't the Bank of Upper Canada's fault. While we know that the issue was struck at the Royal Mint, London , the files there contain but a single document previous to November 1851 referring to it. It reads: "Novr 12, 1850 Delivered to the Mint - o/a Canadian Tokens For Pennys Four puncheons Nine-teen punches Decr 13, 1850 For Halfpenny Four puncheons Twenty punches Rowe Kentish & Co." Rowe Kentish & Co. was the Bank of Upper Canada's agent in England ; their initials "RK&Co" appear on the tokens' obverse. The above document shows a couple of things: first, that the Royal Mint had all the dies in hand before the end of 1850 and, secondly, that the dies were sunk outside the Mint, delivered to them by the Bank's agent. On whatever authority, Bob Willey gave John Pinches of London as the engraver of the master tools. In passing, we should note that William Wyon, Chief Engraver at the Royal Mint was still alive (he would die in 1851) and his son, Leonard C. Wyon, who would succeed him, had been there since 1840. Even the original designer of the George-and-Dragon motif, Benedetto Pistrucci, was still alive, living a sort of crabbed retirement in England . All of them had taken on contracted work at their private studios - and continued to do so. But even though the Royal Mint had all in hand - authorizations as well as the dies themselves - before the end of 1850, nothing was done for well over a year. We know this from selected documents in the volumous "Freer Papers" ensconced in the National Archives. Noah Freer was the "cashier" of the Quebec Bank, a position analogous to "bank manager" today, and had been since the establishment of the bank in 1818; he was the man who actually ran the bank. In January, 1851, Noah Freer petitioned the Provincial Secretary, James Leslie, for permission to strike and issue copper coin in the name of the Quebec Bank to the extent of £2000, such coin urgently needed by the local merchants. On March 12, Freer was turned down on the grounds that the Bank of Upper Canada was already authorized for £5000 in such coin and (apparently on the say-so of that Bank), that it had already been landed in the United States. This was patently untrue, prompting Freer to launch another request on March 21, this time backed up by the agreement of twenty local merchants who, in total, agreed to put up £1400 to have such coin struck. The request was again refused, since the Bank of Upper Canada tokens were "expected momentarily". That didn't happen either, prompting yet a third petition from Freer to import £2000 of the Quebec Bank's own coins. This time the request was granted, even the government apparently aware that the Bank of Upper Canada tokens were no where near ready. Even with all the necessary procedures to have such coin struck, including authorization from the British Treasury, the Quebec Bank had the issue in hand some time before September, 1852. For, at that time, they requested a further £500 in tokens to make up for a "shortfall". We presume this was because Heaton's charged the Quebec Bank £1500 for an issue with a face value of £2000; other mints, such as the Royal and Soho typically took this authorized amount as the actual cost and struck tokens with a face value appropriately above that. This request was refused by the Provincial government since by this time, the Bank of Upper Canada tokens actually were in Canada . It was to Heaton's that the Quebec Bank turned, avoiding all the confusion and tardiness the Bank of Upper Canada was experiencing at the Royal Mint. To this day, we do not know who sunk the master dies for the Quebec Bank tokens, even though the designs were obvious enough: the obverses both show the rather complicated arms of Quebec City while the reverses are copies of the old "Habitant" tokens of 1837. In all, a total of 120,000 pennies and 240,000 halfpennies were struck. There is one oddity in the Quebec Bank halfpenny, probably caused by the lettering being too small and sunk too deeply: a small chip existed on the face of the "F" letter punch, causing slight wear on the token's "HALF" to then read something like "HALP".
Enlargement showing F-cum-P error. We have a couple of other additional good pieces of proof that the Bank of Upper Canada tokens were not received until well into 1852. (1) an undated Royal Mint memorandum reiterates the Rowe, Kentish & Co. invoice above while adding below: "1852 Feby 4 22(tons) 12(hundredweight) 2(quarters) 16 (pounds) Copper April 5 24360 Bars Boxes String"
In other words, by at least February 4, 185 2 , no Bank of Upper Canada tokens - even those of 1850 - had yet been coined. And April was about the time that the coinage for somewhat over half of the 1852 issue - and all the future 1854 and 1857 issues - were turned over to Heaton's. Then there are the weights. The Quebec Bank had their tokens struck to "British Standard" whereby a halfpenny weighed about 144 grains, a penny double that - just like the "Habitants" and "Front Views" were. But the Bank of Upper Canada purposely struck theirs lighter, one-sixth light in fact. This was their spin on currency regulations from 1841 which specified that British and Irish copper coins would remain legal tender even if 5/6th original weight. The spirit behind this law was to allow for wear of those coins dating back even to 1806 - and Irish coppers were 1/12th light to begin with. But the Bank of Upper Canada added to its profits by having the George & Dragons struck at 5/6th British weights to begin with, a halfpenny weighing about 120 grains. And the actual cost of the copper was most of the total for a whole token issue. But the Quebec Bank was scarcely overly altruistic themselves and had they known that the George tokens would be made this light - at any time by which the ordered weight change might be made - we may be sure that they would have done so. But they didn't, allowing us to conclude that until well into 1852, not a single Bank of Upper Canada had shown up in Canada . What caused the holdup at the Royal Mint? In turning the contract over to Heaton's in early 1852, the Mint officials gave "pressure of business" as the answer. Almost certainly that is not true, Royal Mint issues for 1850-2 being very much less than that from even ten years before. So for the real reason, we can only advance a theory: Rather extensively covered in Sir John Craig's The Mint is a recounting of a major shakeup at the Royal Mint during the period 1850/1. Gone was the sinecure, prestigious (and well paid) position of Master of the Mint, to be replaced as head by the one who really ran it: the Deputy Master. Mint workers were taken off piecework rates and made salaried civil servants. "Closed shop" hirings were replaced by civil service exams (in one case, a position in the Assay Department had been passed from father to son for nearly two hundred years). Also introduced - and forbidden - was the concept of "conflict of interest" (The head of the Assay Department was the owner of a major, preferred supplier of bullion to the Mint as well as the man who tested it for purity; given a choice, he resigned his Mint position - but with a "golden handshake" in the form of a fat pension.) Only the engravers were permitted - for the time being, at least - to maintain private studios, but only after their Mint obligations were filled. But probably most germane to our theory was that cessation of a practice that had gone off and on for many years. Until this time, high mint officials might take on private minting contracts themselves, using the Mint machinery and personnel on a sub-contract basis and pocketing a fee as a result. It sounds suspiciously as if this were the case in the initial Bank of Upper Canada token contract, for practically no Mint documents mention it until it was being turned over to Heaton's in early 1852. Quite possibly this was simply the easier course to follow. Nevertheless, in all the hubbub and enforced suspension during the shakeup, the Quebec Bank was driven to - and succeeded in accomplishing - the striking of its own token issue. But it should never have existed, legally or through need.
Printing Canadian Currency in the 1950s.
Until the end of what we call the Canadian Currency Issue of 1954 (the first of Elizabeth II's), the government banknotes were produced in essentially the same fashion as they had been previously. To prevent counterfeiting, the engraving was all hand-executed by talented craftsmen - and so complicated that even they could probably not make an exact copy of the original by hand. The background lathework comprised a given colour as seen by the eye - but it was actually a combination of two dissimilar colours that (at least at the time) was almost impossible to reproduce photographically. The composition of the paper itself was a closely guarded secret, produced by one specialized company under bonded contract. In later years, this came to be a tightly compartmentalized division of Domtar Papers. At that time, everything that was black on the face of the note, and its entire back, was printed intaglio - meaning that the printing plates had a negative design and the resulting inks on the notes were actually raised. The Queen's portrait used on the face was by George Gundersen of the British American Bank Note Company; appropriately modified, the surrounding design was also used on the rest of the denominations.. Engravers employed by the same company also produced the backs of the $2 and $10 (H.P. Dawson) and the $5 (Gordon Yorke).
The original hand-engraved master plates were done on a special steel that would become relatively mild (or soft) when heated to the proper temperature and allowed to cool slowly, thus "drawing its temper". When the engraving was completed, the master plate was hardened by again heating to the proper temperature and then quenching in a cool liquid. The general process was well known to all blacksmiths but in the case of producing currency dies, the composition of the steel, temperatures, timing, etc were all closely-guarded secrets.
Left: Intermediate roll-die used to impress Right: Macro-view of the machine used to a series of 24 identical designs on a single accomplish this operation. The roller die was plate. The reverse of the George VI $1 is repeatedly rolled back and forth over the plate, being produced here. (Closeup view) each time with added pressure.
In a hardened condition, this plate would be used to have its design rolled on to a roller die (positive design, roller die soft while being produced, tempered later on). In its turn, the roller die was used to impress 24 identical designs on a single plate, each of these latter the ones that would actually print the notes in the presses. At every stage, the die receiving the design was soft; that imparting the design, hard.
The sheets of notes required a number of passes through various presses with the images in all cases very tightly registered. On the early $1 notes of Elizabeth II, for instance, the first printing precedure was the application of diagonal parallel background lines in a slate blue tint on the face. The entire note was not so covered, just the general background portion above the horizontal engraved BANK OF CANADA - BANQUE DU CANADA stripe. Even the shield design was lacking these lines, giving the effect of a brighter green wherever missing. The next passes were through the presses with engraved plates that applied the primary green designs, face and back. This pass essentially completed the back but the face was registered so that the black engraved designs would not overlay but rather fit within "colour slots". Again, this was done with a press using engraved plates, imparting the slightly raised black design. Yet later, a letterpress applied the serial numbers (in this case, in red). It was at this stage - in sheets, fully printed to the serial number stage but lacking the signatures - that the bank note printing companies supplied the notes to the Bank of Canada.
Lt: Printing at the CBNCo or BABNCo Rt: Applying signatures at the Bank of Canada
At every stage, close scrutiny by trained inspectors was given the sheets, and every sheet was repeatedly registered and accounted for. Even the total weight of the paper used - less cuttings, plus inks - was closely kept track of. Lacking only the signatures of the Governor and Deputy-Governor of the Bank of Canada, the stacks of sheets were delivered to that Bank under the tightest security. There, the signatures were applied as the final printing step and the sheets cut into their individual blocks, to again be scrutinized, counted, registered and stored under double security in the massive vaults of the Bank of Canada. From there, they were sent out to the private banks as requested. It was also at the Bank of Canada that old withdrawn notes were cancelled and burned.
Empress of India $100 Commemorative, 1891-1991.
From the very start, George Stephen, C.E.O. of the Canadian Pacific Railway, was aware that ordinary freight and passenger fares within Canada would scarcely generate enough revenue to keep the company afloat, espcially in the early years when the line ran through essentially empty landscape. He was determined that the C.P.R. would not be just a railway but rather part of a world transportation system. When the first scheduled transcontinental train pulled into Port Moody on July 4, 1886 , it returned east with more than just passengers and local freight. Recently arrived in port from Yokohama was the clipper W.B. Flint with a cargo of tea, tea that was shipped to Montreal in ten cars to establish a record for fast freight between Japan and eastern North America. This would continue to be the case even after the opening of the Panama Canal a couple of decades later. The C.P.R. then chartered the services of three steamships, the Abyssinia , the Parthia and the Batavia , putting all of them on scheduled routes between the Far East British colony of Hong Kong and Vancouver . The Abyssinia , in fact, arrived only two weeks after the very first train, carrying passengers and cargo of silk and tea, all of which was rapidly shipped east by train. On the basis of these schedules, the C.P.R. entered into negotiations with both the Canadian and British governments for mail contracts and these were signed two years later (July 15, 1889) by which the C.P.R. received a ten-year transPacific (Hong Kong - to - Yokohama - to - Vancouver) contract with the British paying a subsidy of £45,000 per year and the Canadians a further £15,000. With the signing of this contract, the C.P.R. fleet - of which the Empress of India was the first vessel - came into being. One of the stipulations in the contract was that ships used could be converted into armed cruisers if the need arose; another was that speed was of the essence. In neither of these areas were the contracted steamships suitable so the C.P.R. immediately set about to have constructed a fleet to their own specifications, the first of what would be called the "White Empresses" (from the ships' colours) that would operate on the "Red Routes" (so-called because British possessions were rendered in red on world maps).
CPR Railway Station and Wharf, Vancouver , 1899.
The first of the three "Empresses" was the Empress of India , constructed at the Naval Construction and Armament Company yards in Barrow , Scotland under Royal Navy supervision. A "clipper-shaped" liner with two stacks, she was 146 metres long and displaced 6,000 tons. Upon completion, she immediately set sail for Yokohama by way of Suez, took on passengers and freight and arrived in Vancouver on April 28, 1891, having made the crossing from Japan in a record 17 days. Shortly thereafter, she was joined by her sister ships, the Empress of Japan and Empress of China .
|
August 2009"Mystery of the Quebec Bank Tokens, 1852" "Printing Canadian Currency in the 1950s" "The Empress of India $100 Commemorative, 1891-1991" .
|
|---|
