Launched by a pair of collectors in 2019, the Canadian Banking Memorabilia Society (CBMS) has since grown to nearly 70 worldwide members.
The group officially organized this July during a meeting at the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association’s virtual convention. One of the group’s co-founders, Stephen Oatway, is serving as the inaugural CBMS president. The other co-founder, Kevin Day-Thorburn, will edit the society’s quarterly newsletter. Other executive members include Vice-President James Williston, Treasurer Mike Souza and Secretary Troy Zimmer. Webmaster Henry Nienhuis will also handle the society’s social media while other at-large executive members include Michael Joffre, Gene Simms and Cassidy Stroud.
The CBMS has managed a Facebook page at facebook.com/bankingmemorabilia since 2019.
“The scope of this new club is far-reaching with lots of room for fresh research,” Day-Thorburn told CCN in 2019. “Credit cards and bank cards are one example. The focus of the club will go beyond cheques, enabling everyone with an interest in banking memorabilia an opportunity to participate and contribute to a largely overlooked genre of numismatics. Nearly every collector of coins or paper money has picked up something that doesn’t quite fit but is still too cool or historic to pass on.”