Volume 54#24

March 7 – March 20, 2017

Lot 95 was a Warehouse/JB in script (BL-31) blacksmith token graded About Fine. It sold for the full pre-sale estimate of $1,200. Both tokens were part of the Jack Lavis collection.

Strong interest, bidding at recent Hoare Auction

Desirable items were met with strong bidding and realizations at Jeffrey Hoare Auctions' Numismatic and Military Sale No. 122 on Jan. 29. “There was strong bidding from both the floor and over the telephone,” Wendy Hoare told CCN. “Overall I am very pleased with the sale.” All of the tokens from the collection of collector and dealer Jack. C. Lavis sold. Among the highlights were Lots 95 and 96, a pair of desirable blacksmith tokens. Considered contemporary counterfeits, blacksmith tokens are known for small flans and poorly struck images, often in mirror form of the original token. Lot 95, a Warehouse/JB in script (BL-31), About Fine, sold for $1,200, the full pre-sale estimate; while Lot 96, a bust left and Britannia facing right (BL-38A2), VG with a tiny clip and some verdigris, sold for $2,600, compared to an estimate of $2,000. Continue reading →

Features

Mint’s latest catalogue continues celebration of Canadiana

Page 1

Many options available to protect, display coins

Page 11

Use all available information to detect fakes, counterfeits

Page 17

1992 created new collecting opportunities

Page 24

Regulars

Focus on Proof-Like singles

Page 12

Are you buying or selling?

Page 30

Check out the shows in your area

Page 33

Editorial

Your collection tells a story

For the past four months, my life has been taken over by a group of five identical girls – the Dionne Quintuplets, to be exact. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the world-famous Dionne Quintuplets, they were born on May 28, 1934, just outside my hometown of North Bay, Ont., in the tiny village of Corbeil. They were the first identical quintuplets ever to be born and survive for more than a few days – ever! What makes this story so remarkable is that the girls were born in a tiny log cabin without electricity or running water. They were born at a time when there were no fertility drugs, and they weren’t born in a fancy, big-city hospital. Not at all. In fact, they were delivered, for the most part, by midwives. When the country doctor who attended to them was finally able to get an incubator for the tiny girls, it was an old 1898 gas model. That’s what kept them alive. While all five sisters did survive into adulthood, only Cecile and Annette are alive today.

Continue reading →

By Jim Szeplaki