Dating back to 1928, the Montréal-based Carsley Whetstone firm is believed to be the country’s longest-running coin-dealing company.
Launched towards the tail end of the “Roaring Twenties,” Carsley merged with another Montréal company, Thompson & Whetstone, in 1999 to create Carsley Whetstone. While the company has long specialized in rare coins and paper money, it also deals in gold jewellery, medals (including militaria) plus comic books and trading cards.
Previously an investment advisor with Merrill Lynch and National Bank of Canada, current owner and president Michael Joffre dove into his numismatic career in the late 1990s as the two companies merged.
Then known as Carsley’s, the Montréal-based firm issued a 50th anniversary medal in 1978.
“I had always been a very serious coin collector and would spend a lot of my disposable income on coins, so I bought part of the company, and in 2005, I bought out everyone else,” Joffre told the Suburban, Québec’s largest English-language newspaper, in October. “I gave up my career to do what I love.”
A life member of the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association and American Numismatic Association, Joffre also sits as the current president of both the Lakeshore Coin Club and the Montréal Numismatic Society.
This year, Carsley Whetstone celebrates its 93rd consecutive year in business as what the Suburban called “Canada’s oldest coin dealer.”