Notice of April Meeting

The April meeting of the PEINA will be held on Monday, April 28 the Library of Colonel Gray Senior High School beginning at 7 pm with the business portion starting at 7:30. This is one week later than usual, due to the school being closed on Easter Monday the 21st.

The meeting will begin with the usual draw for a "valuable prize". This month, thanks to a visiting teacher from Berlin, we have a set of coin postcards issued in colour by the German Bundesministerium der Finanzen, designed to introduce Germans to the new system of Euro coins and banknotes. The large postcards illustrate the new Euro coins in many of the EU countries while the smaller postcards show both sides of the new Euro banknotes.

Congratulations go to Gary and Gloria for winning the lovely Chinese items in the draw in March. These wax coins (with a wick) are used as lucky candles and we hope they will indeed light your way to more illuminating acquisitions in the future! You have made us all terribly jealous of your good fortune!

Storm Reminder

Our April meeting will be postponed to the following Monday, the 5^th of May, should we have bad weather on the 28^th. We shouldn't, but you never know!

On The Agenda

The main topic will be the APNA show in May. We'll hear about our APNA medal which we discussed in detail last time. We can afford to produce 50 and will be selling them for $16 with an aim to cover our costs. We'll also have an update regarding ticket draws and prizes. If anyone has items to contribute to the draw prizes then please bring them along. This will be an especially important fundraiser for us, and we'll be selling tickets on our draw all day Saturday as well as at the reception on Friday evening. Also, we've been working under the assumption that admission to the bourse will be free, and perhaps we should have a formal motion to that effect.

Look out for the president: he'll have sign-up sheets for members to volunteer an hour or two, to take charge of the APNA table, greet visitors and answer their questions and sell tickets and medals.

When the business talk is over, we have many items sent to us by our friend and fellow member Harry Eisenhauer which we shall auction on behalf of the club. As mentioned last time, there is a Knight-Dodge $5 banknote in uncirculated condition from the latest series, a scarce $2 asterisk note with the Beattie - Rasminsky signature combination, in fantastic shape I should add, and a 1967 Centennial note. All these notes are in Unc condition. There are a number of cheques from various chartered banks which you may also find tempting. Bring along your wallet or chequebook and be prepared to bid! All proceeds go toward the club which, as we get closer to the APNA weekend, can certainly find a good use for the funds we raise.

Again, very special thanks to Harry Eisenhauer for his continuing support.

At The Last Meeting

Thanks go to the CNA Library for the loan of the slide series pertaining to the one dollar note, from the Province of Canada right up to the last note issued.

The show was very well done and the text prepared to accompany the slides was very informative. Special thanks to the London Numismatic Society for putting this slide show together.

2003 Dues

Just a reminder, that dues are unchanged from last year, $15 for a single membership, $20 for a family and $10 for a student.

If you have not already done so, please send us your dues right away. I will forward membership cards as soon as I have them from our Treasurer.

Spring Show Reminder

The APNA Spring Show is set for Friday May 16 and Saturday May 17 at Rodd's Royalty Inn. The toll-free number for booking a room is 1-800-565-7633 and be sure to mention the "coin club convention" to get the special rate of $75 per room.

We are looking for some good displays this time, so please give serious thought to this. The PEINA has several standard size display cases available for loan, please see Mark for details.

Registration papers are enclosed with this newsletter - use them to tell us you're going to attend so that we can plan better, keep our costs down, and hold a seat for you on the double-decker bus! Bring them to the next meeting if you can, or mail them in.

Conder Token Collector's Club

This club was established many years ago for Conder enthusiasts, those collectors who have been captivated by the tokens issued in the British Isles at the end of the 18^th century, 1787-1797. A shortage of small coin made many merchants see a solution in the unofficial issue of their own halfpenny tokens with a few penny and farthing issues as well. The December 2002 issue of the C.N.A. Journal has a short article about these tokens, which should be better known by Canadian collectors. These tokens circulated in probably limited numbers here in British North America (which also suffered from a shortage of reliable coin) and examples of the more common Conder tokens should be in every collection of early Canadian coins.

The club produces a very good newsletter with informative articles that focus mostly on the Conder series and provide background information on each issue. With thousands of tokens issued, there is a huge amount of research and writing to be done, in terms of the circumstances and origin of each token.

Included with this newsletter is a form to be filled in and returned to Conder club secretary, in case you want to join and receive the newsletter. Examples of recent Conder club newsletters will be available at the April meeting for PEINA members to examine.

The late James Watt and the Birmingham Mint

If you remember your high school history, you'll know that James Watt had something to do with steam engines. Yes indeed, he improved upon the original design and, with Matthew Boulton of the Soho Mint, applied the new form of energy to the production of money. This story is told in Richard Doty's remarkable book, The Soho Mint and the Industrialization of Money.

Two items of interest in this newsletter this month, a piece about Watt's possessions being auctioned at Sotheby's, also an item about the Birmingham Mint declaring bankruptcy. This is the mint which struck the PEI penny of 1871 as well as many other famous (to us collectors at least) coins and tokens. It will be interesting to see if the Mint is acquired (and saved) by some other business or investor.

Prince Edward Island Numismatic Association

c/o 10 Edinburgh Drive

Charlottetown, P.E.I.

C1A 3E8

(902) 566-5837

Member of the Canadian Numismatic Association

(# 12576) since 1976 and

the Atlantic Provinces Numismatic Association (# 64)

Club Executive 2003

President

Mark Holton

<holton@islandtelecom.com>

Vice President

Ralph Dickieson

Secretary

Harley Ings

Treasurer

Gloria Houston

Website Manager

Gary Woodhouse

Club web site

www.angelfire.com/art/peina

This newsletter

...is published every month except July and August by the P.E.I. Numismatic Association. Submissions are always welcome