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CANADA'S MONEY Scott E. Douglas During the colonization of Canada neither the French (1670-1760) nor England (1760-1830) were able to provide a growing economy with any form of official uniform currency such as we enjoy today. Shortages of currency for everyday commerce were all too common an occurrence. A study in what passed for money early in this countries economic development is very enlightening. During the French Regime the beaver pelt was the first item accepted in trade and can be thought of as our first money. Wampum was used as legal tender until 1670 by both native Indians and Whites. The natives continued to use wampum well into the late 1700's. WAMPUM During the French Regime playing card money and jetons were used in emergency form. The Sol,Livre and Ecu were used as our French Canadian colonial issues. French Regime playing-card money. Nova Scotia was the first colony to issue a regular coinage about 1814. In 1823 the Nova Scotia thistle token appeared with George IV on the obverse and a Scottish thistle on the reverse. These tokens appeared again in 1824 and strangely in 1832 even though King William had now reigned for two years. The thistle token, it should be noted, was ordered by the Nova Scotia government without the approval of the British government. New Brunswick issued tokens in 1843 and PEI between 1830 and 1860. Newfoundland also eased the currency shortage by the issue of tokens made by four brothers from England who set up as merchants 1840-1846. Their name was Rutherford. As many of the tokens issued were unofficial, counterfeits were common. Of course the counterfeits would always be of lighter weight and yet because they filled such a desperate need were widely accepted amongst the populace. The banks of the time, City Bank, Quebec Bank, Banque du Peuple and the Bank of Montreal in wishing to put an end to the light weight spurious issues ordered tokens of their own made to proper specifications. Later, the Province of Canada ( Upper and Lower Canada combined - 1840's ) issued coinage in 1858/59. These pieces were not considered 'official' by the other parts of what later became Canada as a whole. Afterwards, the first coins of the Dominion of Canada were issued in 1870. During this entire time private issues were made by many individual merchants. Molson's and the Hudson's Bay Company are two such companies that you know of still in existence today that issued tokens of their own. It is through these private issues by merchants that we can trace some of the history of our small towns and villages. Forgotten names suddenly can be brought to light because of these small metal tokens saved by our forefathers as a reminder of what was. A realization of how young a country Canada is can be made when studying the monetary evolution of this Nation. Starting with the beaver pelt and Wampum belt through to our modern day decimal coinage. Esquesing Historical Society Newsletter 2