Notice of Meeting

The next general meeting of the PEINA will be held on Monday evening, January 15, 2001, at the Library of Colonel Gray Senior High School, Charlottetown. We seem to have early-birds arriving at 7 pm for a friendly chat or a look through the month's accumulation of mail and magazines. The regular meeting begins at 7:30 pm.

Please, come and join us if you can. In case of stormy weather we will meet in the school one week later, on Monday the 22^nd but let's hope that won't be necessary. If in doubt don't hesitate to call Mark at home, at 566-5837.
 

Dues for 2001

Also, please don't forget to bring along cash or a cheque to cover your PEINA dues for the calendar year 2001. If you can't make it to the meeting on the 15^th then send your payment via Canada Post to the above address.

Remember: $10 for a student, $15 for ordinary members and $20 for a couple.
 

On our agenda:

Slide and video shows have been ordered from the CNA Library and we'll see what happens.

Members are always welcome to bring along coins, tokens and other related numismatic material for a swap and sale session. Is there truth to the rumour that a set of silver jetons of New France, acquired by the owner from the 1965 CNA auction, will be making an appearance?
 

APNA Spring 2001

In case any reader has not marked this date on their calendar, the dates are Friday May 11 and Saturday May 12, 2001, at Rodd's Royalty Inn on the Trans-Canada Highway.

Now is a great time to begin preparations for your personal display. The club has a number of numismatic display cases which members are welcome to borrow. They are wooden cases, hinged glass top, standard size, and all you have to provide is a small padlock although even this can be provided if you wish.
 

The December Meeting

Held at Rodd's Confederation Inn, we enjoyed a drink together and a great meal on Friday, December 8^th. Gifts were exchanged and draws were held and ticket holder 411411 had a great time indeed, winning two of the four lots! That's the sort of thing that makes the drive from Souris worthwhile!

The gifts (limit $5, in theory) proved to be a challenge and some interesting numismatic items were seen being passed around and admired.

Many thanks to Ralph B for organizing that event, which we enjoyed so much.
 

Token of the Month

Book Review:

A History of the Canadian Dollar

by James Powell. Ottawa, The Bank of Canada, 1999. ISBN 0-662-28123-3.

This modestly-sized paperback does exactly what its title says: present the reader with a history of our dollar, illustrated by examples of dollars (paper and metal) and other coins and notes drawn from the collection of the Currency Museum of the Bank of Canada. Great stuff!

This is not a coin book, or even a book about coins, but instead presents the history of the dollar from earliest times to the present.

There is an explanation of the Halifax and York ratings for the foreign currency once common in Canada, and reference too to the debate regarding pounds, shillings and pence versus dollars and cents.

The currency reforms of 1841-71 make a separate chapter, although the dollar really wasn't the dollar we know until the 1930s when the Bank of Canada is established and the banknotes of the chartered banks are replaced, eventually, by Bank of Canada currency only. Along the road appears the "gold standard", "exchange controls" and other wartime measures, inflation and "floating" dollars and a "fixed exchange rate". We hear many of these terms today in the financial press and occasionally in the mainstream media, but do we know what they mean?

This book provides an overview to our dollar's remarkable history and gives answers to many questions about the dollar, and does so in plain language. The numismatist will enjoy this book, as it puts into a wider context those wonderful coins and tokens, army bills and banknotes which we chase after and lovingly cherish in our collections. The illustrations are well chosen and beautifully printed and a pleasure to admire.

If you'd like to have a copy of this book then you'll be pleased to know you can order it (the cost of the book is $4) via the internet or by Canada Post. It can be downloaded in PDF format from the internet at http: //bankof canada.ca/en/ dollar_book/index.htm

I'll bring my copy along to the January meeting for anyone who'd like to take a look.

Reminder

If the treasurer were here she'd ask me to remind you about paying your dues for our new year 2001.

And, speaking of the Bank of Canada....

By now you will have heard that our central bank has a new Governor. Dr David Dodge will replace Gordon Thiessen in the next couple of weeks, and consequently banknote collectors will be seeing a new signature on our paper notes.

Readers of Canadian Coin News, however, in the December 12 to 25 edition, will know that our latest version of the $5 note already sports a new signature, that of Deputy Governor Malcolm Knight. He was considered a possible replacement for Gordon Thiessen, but with that appointment going to career civil servant Dodge there is speculation now about Knight's future. If he decides to leave the Bank, a new deputy governor's signature will join that of David Dodge.

The current $5 will be replaced with a new design some time in 2001, which means that old-style Knight-Thiessen signature notes could be in very short supply. Seen in circulation early in November -- CCN does not say where -- a number of these crisp uncirculated notes with consecutive serial numbers were found in mid-December by this writer at McAulay's Bakery in downtown Charlottetown. They have now been set aside in a safe place!

I now see these notes being offered for $6.95 each, so perhaps PEINA members with an interest in paper money may wish to keep their eyes open.
 

Token of the Month

For the token of the month, consider this attractive non-Canadian Wellington token. Issued in Ireland, this copper penny features on the obverse the profile of Wellington in uniform and wearing a wreath of laurel, the classical allusion to a champion. The legend reads "Wellington & Erin Go Bragh" [Wellington & Ireland for ever] with the date 1813 directly below the bust. On his jacket is a decoration, probably the star of the Order of the Garter received in 1812.

The reverse of the token presents a splendid harp, a symbol of Ireland and a reference to Wellington's Anglo-Irish background. Above the harp is "E. Stephens." and below, "Dublin". Stephens was a corn merchant - a dealer in grain -- and he issued five different Wellington tokens.

The first is this one dated 1813 with a second similar token dated 1814. Three more followed in 1816 with almost identical 1813-style harps but different treatments of Wellington.

Why Wellington?

Once upon a time the British and the French were at war. They were at war for a very long time, and for many years things did not go well for the British.

A fellow called Napoleon Bonaparte sought to control Europe, but an alliance of countries led by Britain stood (sometimes not very effectively) in his way. Some historians might say that this conflict was a continuation of the Seven Year's War of 1756-63 and the long-standing animosity that existed between French and English. Others may look for the cause of the war in the personality of this extraordinary leader called Napoleon. And, there are many other interpretations of this conflict.

Enter the Duke of Wellington. After a successful military career against local rulers and the French in India, Arthur Wellesley, later the first Duke of Wellington, is appointed in 1808 to lead (or encourage in the right direction) the armies of Britain, Portugal and Spain. From a narrow base in Portugal, he expanded to eventually win a series of bloody battles against the French in the Iberian peninsula. Collectors of Canadian pre-Confederation tokens know of those battles, and certainly know a little about Wellington and his most decisive battle, in June 1815, near a village called Waterloo. There, aided by Britain's allies and especially by the Prussian army, Napoleon and the French army meet a final defeat. Wellington is elevated to the status of world hero.

The Wellington tokens are one of the earliest "series" of copper pre-Confederation tokens although they were not issued by a single source. Appearing in penny and halfpenny denominations, they celebrate Wellington and his victories at the same time as they patriotically fill a need for circulating petty coinage. In many instances we do not know the origins of these coins -- or tokens, properly called -- but they enjoyed extensive circulation in Britain and Ireland and in British North America as well, Lower Canada especially according to Charlton.

Perhaps the best known Wellington pieces are the Peninsular halfpenny tokens, also called the "battle tokens". Struck first sometime after Salamanca in July 1812, the token was updated over the following months in order to include Wellington's more recent victories. They were struck in England for use by the army in Spain, and probably did not see any circulation in England. In tiny letters, the names and dates of various battles are listed. In the dark days of the Napoleonic Wars, these events gave heart to the British soldiers and reminded them that the French army was not invincible. Some two million are said to have been made.

According to R.C.Bell, "Copper Commercial Coins, 1811-1819", the Peninsular War veterans carried the battle tokens with them to Waterloo and France, and further to North America to continue the war against the United States.

The are several Peninsular pennies as well, including a one penny token dated 1813 (Br984/We-12) and issued after the June 1813 battle at Vittoria. Another, the "Cossack" penny (Br985/We-13), is undated. Both bear on their obverse the same striking profile of Wellington in uniform and the names of victorious battles. The Cossack penny had to be struck after Salamanca, fought in July 1812, and the mounted warrior recognizes the contribution of the Russian Cossacks to the defeat of Napoleon in the east in the winter of 1812-13.

The Wellington tokens are great fun to collect. The 3^rd edition of Charlton lists some 15 different Wellington tokens with 54 varieties. In some cases the difference is minimal, a button here and not there, lettering large or small, a wreath continuous or broken. What the Charlton book does not mention are those Wellington tokens not generally considered to be "Canadian" and, like this Stephen example, omitted from our lists.

Merchants in Britain and Ireland issued Wellington tokens, to capitalize no doubt on the popularity and status of the Iron Duke. It is interesting to note that certain images on "non-Canadian" Wellington tokens appear on "Canadian" Wellingtons. For example the harp on the 1813 penny token of Edward Stephens of Dublin, is almost identical to the harp on the "Canadian" Waterloo Halfpenny (1816) (Br981/We-10) and the Hibernia token (antedated 1805)(Br976/We-5). In some instances the familiar profile of Wellington which appears on most of the series was not used at all and a Wellington slogan ("Wellington / Waterloo / 1815") was paired with some other obverse (such as Br1006/WE-15).

Since Dr. Eugene G. Courteau published his study "The Wellington Tokens Relating To Canada" in the American Journal of Numismatics in 1915 there has not been a great deal published in Canada on these tokens. Perhaps that is something that should be corrected, the Courteau text now being much less accessible than the standard Charlton guide. This is a fascinating series, and it deserves further study.
 

Numismatics on the Internet

One of me best equipped sites for collectors of tokens, medals and related material is www.exonumia.com, a long-time business operated by Rich Hartzog in Rockford, Illinois. That's about 75 miles northwest of Chicago according to my trusty AAA road atlas, and a long drive from PEI.

A quicker way is via your keyboard, to check out some of the 600,000 items in stock. This includes tokens and medals, also buttons, badges, pin-backs, Civil War, political and fraternal items, the list goes on and on.

The site is rich in American items, but you'll find a variety of numismatic objects from around the world. If you don't have a computer, you can still write to Hartzog at Post Office Box 4143, Rockford, Illinois, 61110-0643, and ask him to check his stock for you.

If you prefer to browse on your own, there is a very efficient search service, easy to understand and easy to activate. But be warned: you can spend a lot of time exploring and you'll probably enjoy every minute of it.

Exonumia.com also has an extensive collection of links pages, so make sure your bookmarker is working or you have pencil and paper handy. There is also an extensive collection of books available on a wide variety of numismatic subjects. Remembering the mantra "Buy The Book Before The Coin", this aspect of exonumia.com is just as valuable as the coins and tokens offered for sale.

One other site worth look at is www.cointoday.com, which bills itself as the premier numismatic news source. Published on the web every weekday, cointoday.com maintains many useful services for collectors including access to e-shops for numismatic material, links to dealers, and of course news about coins, banknotes, in fact anything relating to the hobby.

The news pages are indeed extensive, and a series of links take you to the original publication. For example, one item that caught my eye was a story about the sale of shares in a company called Maritime Archaeological Investments Ltd. This story appeared in The Age, in Melbourne, Australia, and concerned a business that was going to hunt down and recover coins and bullion lost at sea. Investors were being sought to buy parcels of 500 shares at $500 per share. Not for the faint-hearted!

Other stories concerned treasure trove (a Roman coin hoard) in Britain found by a young boy, Japan's plans to print fewer 2000 yen banknotes, and the discovery of an ancient (1075 A.D.) mint in China. This latter story comes from the Xinhua News Agency.

One interesting feature of this site are the links to auction houses as well as auction related news, including scams to watch out for.

And yes, there is some bimetallic information here, as well as access to an auction search engine. Type in the name or description of what you are looking for, and the Auction Beagle will search several auction sites for you and give you the results.

There is a great deal to see and read here, and like the exonumia.com site, an hour or two can pass very quickly.

One further note: together, these two sites have well over a thousand links. This is clear proof, if such was needed now, that numismatics has moved on to the internet in a very big way. Both these sites are worth bookmarking.
 

Elsewhere,

you'll see photocopies of newspaper articles that may be of interest. Nothing appears to have come from the Fredericton Gleaner story. Interesting, that an elderly gent in New Brunswick has in his pocket what may be an 1804 American silver dollar. I tend to agree with Mike Wilson. I feel the coin had a cast quality to it, like some of those fake Nova Scotia thistle tokens made in Montreal back in the 1830s, however we hope that eventually a coin like that will be seen and judged by a person with more specific knowledge of the subject.

And, as we all know, Europe's move to the Euro will see many distinct national currencies disappear. The 2600-year-old Greek drachma is noteworthy for its long history. Once upon a time about 450 B.C. the Athenian tetradrachma -- the one with the owl, the olive leaves and the crescent moon on one side and the Goddess Athena on the other -- was the ancient world's U.S. Dollar What a beautiful coin!

And that's it for this month. Hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Don't forget, contributions will be gratefully received.

To arouse some interest in this regard, the President's Award is hereby created and offered to the best contribution for 2001.

The award consists of one bottle of fine French or domestic "restorative" (red or white, the choice is yours) to be presented in a plain brown bag at the 2001 Christmas dinner. See you there!
 

Reminder

Next meeting, Monday January 15^th, and don't forget to pay your dues.