Notice of Meeting

The next general meeting ofthe PEINA will be held onFriday evening, December 8,2000 , at Rodd's ConfederationInn on the TransCanadaHighway near the Peter Pan Corner in Charlottetown. Joinus at the Smuggler's Jug fordrinks at 5:30 pm and this willbe followed by dinner at 6:30.

Don't forget our tradition,and bring along a small gift toexchange with a fellownumismatist.

We took a head count at theNovember meeting, and if youwere not present but wish tojoin us, or were present buthave changed your mind andcan indeed attend, please let usknow so we can have enoughplaces ready and meals cookedfor everyone. Call Mark at 566-5837 and I'll pass the wordalong. The cost to each personwill be about $14 which seemsreasonable. Special thanks toRalph B. for organizing thisannual fun event.

On our agenda:

Bring along your wish list forSanta! Isn't the holiday seasonthe time for dreams? And don'tforget a small gift for our exchange. As we say each year,keep it at $5 or less and useyour imagination!

Also, please don't forget tobring along cash or a cheque tocover your PEINA dues for thecalendar year 2001. If you can'tmake it to Rodd'sConfederation Inn in person,then send your payment viaCanada Post to the aboveaddress, or give it to treasurerGloria or president Mark at theJanuary meeting.

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

It was suggested at theNovember meeting thatattendance at the Christmasdinner deserved a medal, and somedals will indeed be awardedto all present!

APNA Spring 2001

The dates are Friday May 11and Saturday May 12, 2001,at Rodd's Royalty Inn on theTrans-Canada Highway.

This matter was discussed atthe November meeting andtasks were taken up by variousmembers. A list will becirculated at the January meetingand a report presented onprogress made to date.

New 2001 Executive

According to section 4.1 ofour constitution, the annualmeeting is held in November andthe new executive serves fromJanuary. The Florida votes havebeen recounted, and we havewinners!

Actually, it's the same gang aslast time, with Harley I. nowofficially made our recordingsecretary. Thanks go to these people for agreeing to serve, andto the membership for putting upwith us!

The NovemberMeeting

We had a good session lasttime and covered a lot of groundin a fairly short period of time.Reference has been made to planning for APNA May 2001.We also agreed on motion torenew our membership in theCNA. Our membership in APNAcontinues automatically as weare permanent members.

The Treasurer's report waspresented, and we remain "in theblack". But please don't forgetto pay your 2001 dues. The website continues to attractvisitors at a steady pace. Wealso talked about our Christmasgathering, and the dinner onFriday evening, December 8 isthe result. We hope to see youthere.

Also worth noting: a requestfrom a dealer to be added toour website links page. Afterdiscussion, It was decided toadopt in a slightly more formalmanner the convention that hasexisted since the beginning, thatwe do not include commercialsites. However, as membersmay be interested to know ofthis numismatic business, andwe know how important gooddealers are to our hobby, thewebsite will be profiled later inthe newsletter.

Dartmouth Show

On a recent and overcastSunday your fearless reporterset out early for "the other side"to check out the latest showorganized by the Halifax CoinClub.

Held November 26 at theDartmouth Senior Citizens'Centre on Ochterloney Street,located in the heart of thathistoric Nova Scotian city, tworooms of tables gave thenumismatist lots of opportunity to contribute to the economy ofour sister province.

A wide variety of coins,medals, tokens, banknotes andrelated supplies were presentedto attract the eye and open the wallet. Several tables wereselling stamps, and some soldboth stamps and coins.

As a teacher of high schooleconomics, I could not avoidspending about $4 on a 1912Czarist Russia banknote of 500 Rubles. This note was the sizeof a handkerchief, andcontrasted nicely with a tiny onecent note from Hong Kongbearing the image of KingGeorge VI. Needless to say,these notes turned a few jadedheads when displayed in theclassroom the next day.

This was a very enjoyableshow, with coffee andsandwiches available, a warmgreeting at the door from HCCmembers, and a chance to talkwith collectors and dealers. Itwas worth the trip!

Book Review:

Beauty and the Banknote;images of women on papermoney.

This slim paperback is adelight to browse through,being profusely illustrated, anda pleasure to read. The bookwas published in 1994 to markan exhibition of the same title atthe British Museum, of a specialcollection of paper money tomark the 300^th anniversary ofthe foundation of the Bank ofEngland. The book enjoyed asecond printing in 1994 and isstill frequently seen in variouscoin shops and bookstores. Mycopy cost me 3 pounds, or ashade under $7 Canadian.

So what's this book about, andwhat use might it have to acollector in P.E.I.?

The book concerns the imageof women on paper money andthe purposes to which thoseimages have been put. When onesurveys the entire range of theworld's paper money for the past hundred years or hundred andfifty years or so, one discovers ahuge number of notes bearing pictures of females. Each ofthese pictures says something,about the country issuing thenote and its beliefs, values andideology. Trying to decipherthese meanings has been authorHewitt's challenge.

The book's summary is to thepoint: "From cool allegory tohaughty beauty, images ofwomen have adored papermoney across the world foralmost two hundred years. ProudBritannias and crownedmonarchs, glamour-girls andcotton-pickers have all beensummoned to proclaim thewealth of a bank, the power of astate, or the glory of a nation.Beyond their official role,however, they reveal how femalefigures on mass-producedobjects both reflect and reinforceour conflicting perceptions ofwomen and their place insociety."

The first chapter of this 64-page paperback "A Woman'sWork', touches on the roleplayed by images of women onbanknotes. Interesting, theauthor points out that whilemost images of males are ofspecific males, females (reigningmonarchs excepted) tend to bepersonifications or idealizationseven when presented in highlyrealistic form. Women appear as possessing desirablecharacteristics -- solvency,authority, nationality -- andrepresent Plenty, Prosperity, orsomething like that. Women canoffer, literally, a welcoming face

Russia. 500 ruble banknote.

to the banknote user andovercome the disdain somemight have for money. If moneyis seen as the root of all evil,arousing complex feelingswithin the viewer, then areassuring mother figure can tell us that everything's going to beall right. The author also pointsto "the capacity to adapt whichequips the feminine as metaphorand messenger."

  One interesting role played by
women is to represent the state.

Issued 1912-1917. "Russia" and

Since 1694 the figure ofBritannia has appeared on everynote issued by the Bank ofEngland. Other issuers over theyears have enlisted Britannia intheir cause, to project a varietyof ideas and emotions fromprotective (on many colonialbanknotes) to aggressive (on the10 shilling note of 1918-27where, armed with a trident andshield, she stands aggressively onthe British shore ready to defendthe country). Hewitt points out

Czar Peter the Great (detail)

that in most cases, however,Britannia and her unwarlikesisters represent the nation in allits glory and often hold symbolsrepresenting the nation. Forexample, on the 500 ruble noteof 1912-17, Russia is seatedwith a sceptre representingsovereignty and a branch ofevergreen laurel, signifyingvictory. The female figure isalso called to duty to represent desirable virtues of the state,including liberty and law, andthe notion of plenty orabundance.

As one reads through thisbook and studies the manycolour and black-and-whiteillustration, especially of thoseof Britannia, one cannot butwonder how many times wehave seen women on coins andbanknotes and not paid muchattention to the image. Forexample, Britannia on coinsgoes back to the ancientRomans, when the emperorsand wall-builders Hadrian (117-38) and Antoninus Pius (138-61) had designs referring to theprovince of Britannia, represented as a female figureseated on rocks. A n excellentexample of this genre is thefigure of Britannia whichappears on the 1979"cartwheel" penny of Matthew Boulton.

A book like this is highlyrecommended for thenumismatist, as it sets the mindto work in new ways. Howmany images of women appearon Canadian banknotes andpaper fractional notes? Have alook at the 1870 "shinplaster",and see Britannia in glory witha lion incorporated into thedesign of her helmet.

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Britain. Copper twopence,1797. Soho mint, Birmingham.

the next APNA gathering, ofimages of either women innumismatics in general orBritannia in particular. Think ofAthena on the coinage ofancient Greece, or the manyversions of Liberty appearing on American coins. I wonderwhat a study of Canadian orpre-Confederation notes andcoins would reveal. I hopesomeone will give this ideaserious consideration.

Beauty and the Banknote, byVirginia Hewitt, is a bookworth having. The ISBN isincluded below in case anymember wishes to order a copy.It will be well worth the wait andthe modest cost involved.

Beauty and the Banknote, byVirginia Hewitt. London: TheBritish Museum Press, 1994

ISBN 0-7141-0877-4.

Reminder

We have out Christmas dinneron Friday, December 8, at 5:30pm for serving at 6:30 pm, alltaking place at Rodd'sConfederation Inn. Lots of freeparking, and pray we havedecent weather! Don't forget asmall gift for our exchange, andif the treasurer was here she'dask me to remind you aboutpaying your dues for next year.

And that's it for the year2000. We have had a good yeartogether and I look forward tocollecting coins and banknoteswith you in the new year 2001.We have the APNA gathering inMay to keep us busy, also lookout for news regarding theCanadian Numismatic Association correspondencecourse. I'm still looking forcontributions to this Newsletterand let's take up Harley'ssuggestion of a "Coin Of TheMonth" column. The presidentpromises a small bottle of snakebite medicine to the author of thefirst submission to reach mydesk!

Merry Christmas to all, and ahappy and healthy New Year.