Walter Thomson & Son, Miller and Grain Dealer , Boer War Medallion
Datec. 1901
DimensionsOverall: 3 cm
Credit LineGift of Dr. J. Malcolm Smith, London, Ontario, 2006
Object number2006.011.018
Label TextWalter Thomson started in the grain milling business in London in 1888. He purchased a grain mill located at 303-311 Talbot Street from the previous owner, Muirhead and Gartly. For two years, Thomson was the sole owner of the Dominion Oatmeal Mills…at the same time he employed Henry and Thomas Thomson...For the years 1891 and 1892, the Dominion Oatmeal Mills was owned by William T. Gartly and Walter Thomson but by 1893 Thomson was the sole owner...In 1899 Walter's son, Warren W. Thomson came to London to help manage the mill...In 1902 the Dominion Oatmeal Mill was listed in the city directory as Walter Thomson and Son Limited. The mill was ideally located at the southwest corner of York and Talbot Streets beside the Great Western Railway. It produced oatmeal, rolled wheat, pot barley, split peas, and Maple Leaf brand rolled oats. The mill had a capacity of 400 barrels a day and had extended their trade all over Canada and to leading foreign countries....In 1910 the London mill becamse the Canadian Cereal and Milling Company...
This advertisement piece was struck to commemorate peace in South Africa after May 31, 1902. These tokens like other commemorative Boer War tokens were issued by the Cranston Novelty Company of Galt.
From: Leitch, Ted, "Tokens & Medals London Ont.," p.63
From about 1890 to the period between the First and Second World Wars, local merchants across Canada issued large quantities of variously shaped trade tokens that were exchangeable for a variety of goods and services, such as a loaf of bread, a pint of milk, a shave or a ride on the electric railway. Their use declined with postwar improvements in transportation and technology.
From: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/coins-and-tokens
From the 1880s until the beginning of the First World War, the merchant's token enjoyed a heyday in Canada, alleviating a general shortage of small change while offering direct advantages to business. Inexpensive to produce, the tokens served as advertising and, in theory at least, were redeemable only in the establishment that issued them.
From: https://www.coinsandcanada.com/tokens-medals-articles.php
NameMedal, Commemorative
c. 1940s
