J Wilson, Montreal Token

[bagerap]

I've had this token for over forty years, and still haven't managed to ID or date it.

Any one have an idea?

[mmarotta]

I've had this token for over forty years, and still haven't managed to ID or date it.

 

Well, OK... what have you tried so far? Have you gone to Montreal and searched via the Library for old city guides or used the newspaper archives? The token looks like late 19th early 20th century. On the one hand, that's a broad range, but also, the town was smaller.

 

Have you been to any Canadian Numismatic Association conventions or local Montreal club shows? It would seem that they would have the easiest access and perhaps more examples like this or of the series.

 

Mavericks are always a challenge, but what I am asking is: how do you know that this is an unknown?

[bagerap]

I'm not saying that it's an unknown, simply that I have been unable to ID it.

Being resident in the UK precludes easy acess to Canadian shows and media, although I did hope for many years,that with the advent of the internet I'd have had some success. It remains my only long term failure thus far.

[constanius]

Hi & welcome to CoinPeople, I live just outside of Toronto & if no one else posts any info for you I will check my local libraries & get back to you. Unfortunately I am unable to do this for a fortnight(holiday) and hopefully you will have had some luck before then.

 

I collect historical medals & tokens(mainly 18th & early 19th century british & french but have a few canadian ones too) therefore I am not that knowledgeable re later tokens. I have not seen this token before, hopefully it is extremely rare...or unknown even

 

I am interested in the design of the '5' is that a bird in the curve & is there something in the circle on the 'tail' of the '5'.

 

EDIT; I emailed a Canadian coin/medal/token dealer that I buy from & who has a large Canadian numismatic library, & asked him if he had seen or heard of the token, here is his reply.

Hi Pat,

 

Sorry I've never heard of it before. It's not listed in any of my books.

 

George

George Manz Coins

P.O. Box 3626

Regina, SK, Canada S4P 3L7

[bagerap]

Constanius, thank you for your efforts.

From another source, I've discovered that the token was in circulation in the last decade of the nineteenth century.

It is to be found on page 47, as #3152e of:

Tokens of Quebec by Fred Bowman

Published 1972 under the auspices of the Canadian Numismatic Research Society. Sadly now out of print and quite scarce. The last copy I could find for sale went through the hands of George Manz October 2008.

 

As to the design of the five, I'll set up the microscope tomorrow to get you a detailed shot.

 

Many thanks

[bagerap]

Added for Constanius

[constanius]

Thanks for the pics & the info, I am glad your efforts were fruitful. Funny that I emailed George & it turned out he had sold the book the token was listed in.

[bagerap]

Yup, all I need now is to find someone with a copy.