DID YOU KNOW......?

By Scott E. Douglas

………that in 1895 George Sleeman of Guelph, Ontario brewing fame built the first Electric Railway the city was desperately in need of. The original charter was drawn up and a by-law passed on August 7, 1894. Construction began in April of 1895 with the first spike officially driven in on Waterloo Avenue in front of the Sleeman home, which was adjacent to the brewery, by Sleeman’s wife Sarah on June 20, 1895. The Guelph Railway Company began with three closed cars on September 17, 1895. Normal service operated from 5AM to 11PM Monday to Saturday every 20 minutes. Besides Sleeman’s ‘Silvercreek Brewery’ being on the route the Bell Piano Company, Guelph’s largest employer, was also at close proximity.

DID YOU KNOW......?

The communion service was something that was eagerly anticipated, usually occurring twice a year. As some members of the congregation lived miles away they would arrive on the Wednesday prior to the events which would commence on the Thursday and culminate with Holy Communion on the Sunday. Monday was a service of ‘Thanksgiving’ and closed the communion session.

At the close of the service on Saturday the minister passed out the tokens which would in turn be collected on Sunday prior to the Holy Communion service. The communion service had a tendency to be very long running into several hours. Canadian Communion Tokens generally were made of lead or pewter and later of aluminum. They came in various shapes such as oval, round, square, octagonal, oblong, triangular and hexagonal. These pieces may be found cast, struck or incused with a single letter punch. The cast or incuse pieces often were made by local craftsmen. In some cases the minister would take it upon himself to fashion the tokens for his congregation.

DID YOU KNOW......?

By Scott E. Douglas

…that the American Numismatic Association, founded in 1891, relied heavily on Canadian numismatists in the first 50 years of existence?

Over the years Canadians have played an important role in the growth of this now worldwide organization.

For many years’ names like Hooper, Hall, Grenny, Gibbs, Tremblay, McLachlan, Wilson, Gravel, Renaud and Ferguson have gone unrecognized, forgotten by Americans and Canadians alike.

When George Heath, father of the ANA, first took his idea of a national organization to task he personally appointed a start up executive committee of 10 prominent numismatists of which 3 were Canadian.

Perhaps our finest hour came when Canadian Joseph Hooper was made President in 1898 after holding the position of Vice-President since the beginning in 1891. This would happen again many years later as J.D. Ferguson would hold the Presidency in 1941 and 1942. It would appear that this marks the last of any real important Canadian presence within the ANA organization. A possible explanation for this is the beginning of our own national organization the Canadian Numismatic Association founded in 1950.

In 1909 and again in 1923 the American Numismatic Association held very successful conventions in Montreal, Quebec the only ANA conventions ever held on ‘foreign’ soil. Perhaps the greatest gift Canada would give to the ANA came from W.W.C.Wilson in 1910. Wilson purchased the ‘Numismatist’ magazine, long considered the house organ of the ANA but not owned by them, and then generously donated it to the American Numismatic Association.

Sadly, the accomplishments of Canadian’s in the first half-century of this 114 year old grand organization have been lost to most numismatists today.

After all…. it is the AMERICAN Numismatic Association, isn’t it!!??

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DID YOU KNOW......?

By Scott E. Douglas

……………that some of the earliest tokens were introduced by the fur trade as a way of simplifying accounting. The first tokens of the Hudson’s Bay Company issued around 1857, represented a ‘(M)ade (B)eaver’ or ‘(N)ew (B)eaver’. This was the description of the pelt as it was prepared for storage or transfer. Later, the HBC would issue tokens with monetary representation. These tokens would enjoy widespread use as the Hudson’s Bay Company controlled the fur trade in the region from 1670 to 1784 when the North West Company was created in Montreal with the sole purpose of challenging this control. The North West Co. issued a single token to represent 1 beaver pelt. Both companies would later merge and as little coinage was used prior to 1870 HBC tokens would continue to be used, in some cases, until the 1960’s when they were then discontinued. 

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DID YOU KNOW......?

By Scott E. Douglas

……that in 1825 a law was passed in the Province of Lower Canada forbidding the importation of private tokens. To evade this law tokens were made bearing a date previous to 1825. These tokens are known as antedated.

In Ontario the tokens issued by Lesslie and Sons likely fall into this category. This firm was established in 1820 and later issued a halfpenny and a two-penny token. On the halfpenny token it is listed that Lesslie and Sons were druggists and booksellers of York, Kingston and Dundas. The 2d issue features the date of 1822 and bears the legend Lesslie and Sons Toronto and Dundass. What is interesting about this token is that York did not change its name to Toronto until 1834 and yet the token bears the date of 1822. A possible explanation for this is that York had always been known as Toronto even though it did not officially change its name as such until 1834.

Also the firm doesn’t appear to have been established in Dundas until about 1828 a full six years after the date of 1822 shown on the token and three years after the 1825 law.