The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 14, April 8, 2007, Article 7

CANADIAN WOODEN MONEY SATIRE ARTICLE

I know, you're already sick of April Fools items, but here's just 
one more I had to share. The Canadian satire magazine The Toque 
published "A History of Wooden Money in Canada," and it's a riot. 
Here are a couple excerpts:

"Early Canadian traders, burdened with cumbersome animal pelts, 
horns, and ivories, were unable to trade efficiently because their 
sleds, canoes, and portage carts were always weighed down with their 
heavy trade items. They needed a monetary solution that would make 
their trekking slightly less harsh. 

"The first wooden coins were bulky and awkward, up to 12-inches thick 
and seven feet in diameter, made from the sawed cross-sections of 
maple trees, and etched with rough caricatures of the King of England 
on one side and a beaver on the other."

"Later on came the "hard" currency, wooden coins made of ash, oak, 
and petrified fir. These were the first coins to be embossed, using 
iron presses and coated with a basic lacquer, the same finish French 
Canadians often used as a maple syrup substitute. When traders 
purchased items at dry goods stores, the clerk would always ask "ash 
or check?". (The word "cash" actually comes from the Algonquin term 
"ka'ash" meaning chips of wood.) 

"Canada didn't introduce metal coins until 1867, after the Canadian 
Coin Treasury burned down to the ground. The story goes that a Canadian 
treasury employee accidentally started the blaze by rubbing two nickels 
together, destroying the entire wooden reserve."

To read the complete article, see:  Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

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