Exhibit on J.O.P. dollars feted at RCNA convention
While Paul Demerchant has been “seriously” collecting coins for the last 25 years, he decided this year at age 81 to enter his first exhibit in the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association (RCNA)’s convention exhibition.
It paid off big time for the Florenceville-Bristol, N.B. resident. Not only did he place first in his category of Canadian Coins and Tokens, he swept the awards receiving the Jean Bullen Award, the People’s Choice Award, and the coveted Best of Show award for his exhibit on ‘Joseph Oliva Patenaude and his J.O.P. dollars.’
“I’ve never done it before,” said Demerchant. “Several years ago I said to myself I would like to do this sometime. I really wanted to give it the best shot and see how we make out. I’m satisfied we were able to do it. It turned out very well.”
Demerchant also credits the help he received from his wife, Linda, and a graphic artist who helped with the exhibit design.
His exhibition featured a complete set of known J.O.P dollars and the four types of J.O.P. dollars.
“I’ve been collecting J.O.P.s for 25 years,” Demerchant said. “They are not easy to find. I just kept looking. I would pick some up at major shows, or periodically you would see one at an auction. If I saw it, I tried to get it.”
The J.O.P. dollars are highly collectible and began surfacing in the 1930s when Joseph Oliva Patenaude, a Canadian watchmaker, jeweller and optician, would counter-strike his initials J.O.P. on Canadian silver dollars.
Demerchant said he had attended a seminar on exhibiting in Truro that sparked his interest.
“I found it very interesting. I made a couple of pages of notes and I decided when the RCNA was going to be in Halifax in 2020, that I would do that.”
To read the full story and others in this issue, click here and subscribe now.
Already a subscriber? Click here to continue reading in the digital format.
1 Comment
Interesting read and no prejudice against Mr Demerchant, who obviously did an amazing job with his exhibit, and congratulations are in order! I’m probably in the minority on this but J.O.P dollars shouldn’t be recognized in my opinion and should not be considered a Variety. I shake my head at the notion of people wanting to have defaced Silver Dollars in their collection and the overall desire for these pieces. Anybody at any time could counter stamp a coin, and I feel that the numismatic hobby as a whole should review these dollars as an accepted “variety”.