Notice of Meeting

The next regular meeting of the Association will take place in the library of Colonel Gray Senior High School, 175 Spring Park Road, at 7:30 pm on Monday, September 17. Come early and join the 7 pm crowd for informal conversation before the meeting begins.

On the Agenda

We will be discussing plans for our coin night on October 15 at the Farmers' Bank of Rustico. This Bank, which operated from 1864 to 1894, has recently been restored and operates as a national historic site with a community museum, a restored banking office, and community meeting rooms. Let's consider what we can do to develop our relationship with this remarkable artifact of our Island and Canadian heritage.

The summer has offered, we hope, opportunities to add to our collections. Find anything interesting? Bring it along for an informal "show and tell" session which will follow the business meeting.

Book Review:

Victorian Souvenir Medals, by Daniel Fearon and Artistic Circles; the medal in Britain, 1880-1918, by Philip Attwood.

Some time ago this newsletter published an article on medals by Dassier prepared by George Manz. It was interesting to hear positive comments from a number of people, to the effect that medals are often overlooked in the numismatic scheme of things. One factor that may contribute to this situation is the difficulty of finding useful reference books on this subject. These books are not usualy on the shelf at Coles or Indigo. Medals have a long and honourable history but without the relevant information, it is difficult to put them into a wider context.

These two books provide lots of useful information pertaining to British medals. One wonders why bother making a note of them for collectors in eastern Canada, however, the May APNA show revealed at least two dealers with bronze and white metal medals including a bronze Colonial and Indian Exhibition medal from the 1880s.

Each book is a paperback, the first 32 pages and the second 64, so their treatment of medals is an overview. Even so, they offer an impressive introduction to the subject. Fearon's book, in the popular Shire Album series, includes a section titled Advice for Collectors as well as Further Reading and Places to Visit, being a list of museums and art galleries where these and other, similar medals may be seen.

Victorian Souvenir Medals looks at the "white metal" medals so popular as cheap souvenirs in the heyday of Queen Victoria. Indeed, while the focus is exclusively on British medals, it is well known that this passion to record people, places and events in metal was picked up by Canadians. Thousands were made, most with fairly ordinary designs, but recording some of the more interesting events in our history. For the Canadian collector interested in knowing more about the history of Victorian and later medals, these two books make a useful guide.

I'll have them with me at our September 17 meeting, in case anyone has a medal or two they would like to identify.

Halifax Coin Club

PEINA members with computer access may want to take note, that the HCC has a website at www.geocities.com/halifaxcoinclub with an e-mail address at <halifaxcoinclub@hotmail.com>.

CNA Quebec City

This summer the CNA held its annual gathering in Quebec City. Plans to attend were derailed by a family emergency, however both the CNA Journal and the Canadian Coin News report that a successful meeting was held, and New Brunswicker Geoff Bell is now the new CNA President. Jerry Remick, a collector and writer well known in numismatic circles, received the J. Douglas Ferguson Medal for his contribution to numismatics over many years. Perhaps those PEINA members fortunate enough to attend CNA can share their impressions with us on the 17^th.

CNA Journal

Our annual membership brings with it a subscription to this useful numismatic review. I will have with me on the 17^th all our 2001 Journals should anyone wish to borrow (and eventually return) one or more of them. The cover story in the September 2001 Journal is an article by George Manz on "Britain's Cartwheel Coinage" which makes extensive reference to Richard Doty's