I am not a smoker but I have always lived with smokers. As a child I would save the box tops off my Dad’s Mark 10 Cigarettes. When I had gathered about 500 of them it was enough to get me a free premium from the company– a colouring book and crayons.
Wow-and my Dad coughed all through that collection. But, we all have our vices I guess.
In Carleton Place there was a run on what they called T and B cigarettes in the old days. These were cigarettes that would have been outcasts or had imperfections. The trend lasted for a long time because of one thing. In the odd shaped packages a neatly folded *shinplaster was inserted or sometimes it was a crisp new one dollar bill.
As Mj Ferrier said– “puts a whole new spin to Canadian Tire money!”
“Shinplasters” – Canada’s Beloved 25-Cent Notes
At the time of the American Civil War, U.S. silver coin became depreciated by 5 percent relative to gold. The situation caused American silver, mostly of the 25-cent and 50-cent denominations, to pour into Canada, where it was still received at full face value. Banks and post offices would not accept these coins, so retailers sold them at a discount to brokers, who in turn derived their livelihoods by selling the depreciated silver back to manufacturers and buyers of grain and cattle. Thus the cycle repeated and the “American silver nuisance” resulted in hardship to farmers, merchants and factory workers who had no choice but to accept their losses. The government also suffered because the $1 and $2 Province of Canada notes, issued by the Dominion government after Confederation, were being crowded out of circulation.
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The third and final issue of Canada’s 25-cent notes was released beginning in 1923 and continued until the Bank of Canada was created in 1935. This issue differed in that it was not only redesigned from its predecessors, but it is also the only one to feature serial numbers. A total of 7 million of these 1923-dated shinplasters were issued before the Bank of Canada took over. |
lindaseccaspina 