Volume 52#16

November 18 – December 1, 2014

A rare Treaty 4 medal has been repatriated back to Saskatchewan.

Rare treaty medal finds way back to Native hands

A rare Treaty 4 medal has been returned to its Saskatchewan home, thanks to a community-spirited bidder. Paula Acoose and Ray McCallum heard about the medal, which was offered in Jeffrey Hoare Auction’s September sale. Without time to raise funds for the medal, they decided to use their savings to cover the initial cost. Treaty 4 Nations have pledged the funds to cover the outlay. The medal was one of 21 handed out to First Nations chiefs who signed the treaty, covering southern Saskatchewan, in 1874. Continue reading →

Features

Collector’s persistence on rare coin pays off

Page 1

‘Weird and wonderful’ auction items sold ‘really well’: Bell

Page 21

Medal leads to history of Ontario wool mill

Page 24

Regulars

Focus on Canadian one dollar

Page 10

Are you buying or selling?

Page 30

Check out the shows in your area

Page 33

Editorial

A common sense approach to protecting history

As any collector will tell you, coins and medals are not just something to be collected, they are cultural artifacts. While for many of us that is a huge part of the appeal of numismatics, it has a negative side as well. Many nations have determined that coins are part of their cultural patrimony and shouldn’t be exported. Now, to some extent that makes sense, particularly in the case of nations such as Egypt and Greece, which were plundered for the better part of a century by artefact hunters, often working for prestigious museums. Various nations have also found allies in the archeological community, which has long been complaining that grave robbers searching out items for collectors often destroy historical information that can never be recovered. No thinking person can support grave robbery, or theft of any sort.

Continue reading →