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by Michael E. Marotta, 20 Jul 1994
If you look at the reverse of the Canadian "Voyageur" Silver dollars, you will see an advertisement for the Hudson Bay Company. It's on the reverse. There are two bundles in the canoe. The forward bale, behind the Native, has on it the initials HB for Hudson's Bay, the company that was chartered to explore and develop Canada. This is not the only Canadian coin to carry a private mark.
In 1890, Canada contracted with the privately-owned Heaton Mint in Birmingham, England, for production of its coinage. All Canadian coins from 1890 carry the H mintmark. (Coins struck at the Royal Mint in Ottawa have no mintmark.) Other contracts were given to the Heaton Mint, such as the 50 cent coin of 1871, the 1907 cent, and the 1903 five cent.
Actually Canada enjoyed a very strong tradition of private money. For most of the first 200 years of Canadian history, there was little or no official coinage. (Early French soldiers were paid in paper money made from playing cards.) In 1850, token pennies and half pennies were struck for the Bank of Upper Canada by the British Royal Mint. Bank of Upper Canada tokens for 1852, 1854 and 1857 were struck by Heaton. However, all of these coins bear the initials R K & CO. They stand for Rowe Kentish and Company, the brokers who arranged the minting. The initials appear on the obverse, below the horse's hoof and above the last digit in the date.
Michael E. Marotta
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