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Scott Douglas is an avid coin collector from Acton and member of the Esquesing Historical Society. He will speak at our January meeting. Royal Mint of Acton in the Lead With coins and tokens the leading topic of discussion for 1999,1 decided to peruse my "coin collection" for a few samples. I pulled out the old Christmas card box (when they were made out of real cardboard) and sifted through them for a local connection. There are many shillings, schillings, phennig, lira, francs and guilders. But I was looking for tokens, since we are a local historical society. On a national scale I found a 1982 "silver" dollar honouring the 1982 constitution. Encased in plastic was a bronze coin commemorating the Royal visit of 1984 to Ontario in honour of its Bicentennial. But more localized was a coin for Parry Sound's centennial in 1987 and then the Kichener-Waterloo Bogenschuetzenfest of 1989 - their twentieth anniversary! I dug a little deeper. I struck pay dirt with a small plastic case which held a Bicentennial (1984) coin struck in Georgetown by the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce. On the reverse (?) Of the coin was a waterwheel surmounted by the message "B.I.G. Celebration". B.I.G. Was explained at the bottom of the coin as "Business in Georgetown." On the insert, Georgetown's Commemorative coin was dated 1864 to 1984. It explained the settlement of Georgetown by George Kennedy, its' naming in 1837 and incorporation in 1864 as a Village. John McDonald was the author of the insert. Encouraged, I searched further and came up with TWO coins from Acton! The older one was dated 1974 and commemorated Acton's centennial. Around the coat of arms for the Corporation of the Town of Acton, it said Acton, 1874 and Halton Hills, 1974. On the Observe was the Royal Canadian Legion symbol and accompanying text from Branch 197 (Acton). It included the date of the official opening of the new Legion building, September 14th, 1974. The second coin had Halton Hills' new logo on the observe and their latest motto, "Working Together, Working for You!" On the reverse is Acton's new arena and community centre dated 1997. "Acton Proud Campaign" curves across the top of the coin while another motto, "Our Community * Our Pride" balances off the bottom of the coin. So in my collection, Acton leads 2:1. We'll keep score at our January meeting, so scour your drawers and chesterfields (Canadian expression) for local tokens. Do any of our local hamlets have coinage? What about our venerable old Township? If you can't produce the coin, come on out with your stories at least. We'll take your word for it! -J. Mark Rowe Esquesing Historical Society Newsletter 3