River Valley Coins, a non-profit organization producing annual fundraising tokens for the restoration and maintenance of heritage, historical and tourist sites in its hometown of Grand Bay-Westfield, N.B., has issued its fifth piece.
The 2022-dated trade token has a $3 face value and honours the local St. Augustine’s Catholic Church, which was built for cottagers from Saint John in 1926.
The red gable-roofed church – originally a mission of Saint John’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception with seating for 200 people – features Gothic Revival-style windows with amber glass, which is also used for the circular window in the centre of the façade. Serving as a mission until 1949, when it became a separate parish, the historic church closed its doors in 2018.
Last year, the building was removed, and a monument will soon stand in its place.
Struck at a private mint in China, the new bi-metallic coloured token has a mintage of 1,000 pieces. All profits from the sale of these tokens will go towards repairing and maintaining monuments, sculptures and historic buildings within the Grand Bay-Westfield, which borders the capital Saint John in the western part of Kings County.