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Newsletter #84 |
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Canada was just 30 years old. Queen Victoria had celebrated 60 years on the throne. In a letter, illustrated with a tom turkey, and dated 30 December 1897, the Massey-Harris Company gave a dollar bill, in lieu of a seasonal feast bird, to their employees at Toronto and Brantford. The portraits of the Countess and Earl of Aberdeen, which grace the banknote, are deemed appropriate as a corporate gift, as the pair had recently visited Massey-Harris’ Toronto Works. The Earl of Aberdeen was the Canadian Governor General from 1893 to 1898, while his wife started the Victorian Order of Nurses, in recognition of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and helped found The National Council of Women. |
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| The note reads:
Toronto, December 30th, 1897 To Our Employees at Toronto and Brantford: The Board of Directors of the Company being desirous of expressing their good wishes to the staff of Workmen by presenting each Employee with a New Year's Turkey, have found difficulty in securing such an immense number of Gobblers as are necessary at one time. They therefore leave each housewife to select her own bird - Turkey, Goose, Duck, or whatever suits her taste - with the brand new Dollar Bill enclosed. This bill is a new issue just recently brought out by the Dominion Government, and is graced with the Portraits of His Excelency the Rt. Hon. Earl of Aberdeen, Governor General of Canada, and Her Excellency the Countess of Aberdeen, which seems especially appropriate and interesting in view of their Excellencies' recent visit to our Toronto Works. We sincerely wish you a bright, prosperous and happy New Year, Massey-Harris Co., Limited, W. E. H. Massey, President |
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| The black and green 1897 dollar, which came to our Vancouver store 109 years later, with the original letter, was issued 2 July 1897 and shows a log drive on a Canadian river, surrounded by the Royal portraits on the front, and a view of the center block of the Parliament Buildings, in Ottawa, on the back. Printed by the American Banknote Company in Ottawa, this note is seldom seen in any condition, and rare in good shape.
The Massey-Harris 1897 Dollar, serial numbered 248258, shows handling along the top margin and in one corner only, and is remarkably fresh. How someone could have saved the note and letter all these years is simply our luck. Perhaps they, like Massey-Harris had trouble selecting the right poultry for supper. |
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Newsletter #85 |
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