COMMEMORATIVE COIN '100 YEARS'- CPR BRIDGE-PARRY SOUND
Coins and Paper Money :: Exonumia :: So-Called Dollars
COMMEMORATIVE COIN '100 YEARS'- CPR BRIDGE-PARRY SOUND
This "JUST ISSUED" (on JUNE 21ST 2008) Commemorative coin weighs in at 19.2 grams and was commissioned by the 'TOWN OF PARRY SOUND ONTARIO CANADA' to mark the 100th Anniversary of the completion of the 'High Level Canadian Pacific Railway Bridge' over the mouth of the Seguin River in June 1908. The $5.00 (until October 1st) coin was produced by Medallic Art in Toronto and only 2000 coins were minted. (note June 26th) I just received this email from the above Company in response to a question I had asked re composition of the coin.........." Thanks for your email. This Parry Sound 'coin' is 38 mm in diameter, minted with 90/10 cupronickel and then rack plated with pure nickel. Without a doubt this is one of the nicest coins we have ever minted. I hope this is sufficient. The first CPR Passenger train initiated Service from Toronto to Sudbury on this new Canadian Pacific Railway PARRY SOUND Subdivision (MACTIER TO ROMFORD) one month after the completion of the Bridge in July 1908. The obverse of this $5.00 coin reads.. CPR TRESTLE 100th Anniversary 1908 2008 Parry Sound Ontario Canada The reverse shows Steam Engine 2466 pulling a passenger train across the 1695 foot span which is 105 feet high in the middle section. The etching on both sides of the coin is exceptionally well done. This bridge structure was assembled by Hamilton Steel Works, and I have just recently noticed the name "CARNEGIE" (upside down) on a steel support beam .This indicates that the steel was probably fabricated by the US Steel Company in New York that was owned by 'Andrew Carneige', the SCOTCH IMMIGRANT who also built the famous 'CARNEGIE HALL' in New York City. The steel was probably fabricated in 1904-1905 as construction on the bridge began in 1905 and was finished in 1908. Andrew Carnegie (properly pronounced /kɑrˈneɪgi/, but commonly /ˈkɑrnɨgi/ or /kɑrˈnɛgi/)[1] (November 25, 1835 – August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-born American industrialist, businessman, and a major philanthropist. He was an immigrant as a child with his parents. He built Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel Company, which was later merged with Elbert H. Gary's Federal Steel Company and several smaller companies to create U.S. Steel. With the fortune he made from business, he turned to philanthropy and interests in education, founding the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. While Carnegie paid his employees the low wages typical of the time, he later gave away most of his money to fund the establishment of many libraries, schools, and universities in America, United Kingdom and other countries, as well as a pension fund for former employees. He is often regarded as the second richest man in history. Carnegie started as a telegrapher and by the 1860s had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, bridges and oil derricks. He built further wealth as a bond salesman raising money for American enterprise in Europe. Steel was where he made his fortune. In the 1870s, he founded the Carnegie Steel Company, a step which cemented his name as one of the “Captains of Industry”. By the 1890s, the company was the largest and most profitable industrial enterprise in the world. Carnegie sold it to J.P. Morgan in 1901, who created US Steel. Carnegie devoted the remainder of his life to large-scale philanthropy, with special emphasis on local libraries, world peace, and education and scientific research. I will include a copy of a picture of the southbound 'CANADIAN' passenger train taken from the Observation Tower at the Parry Sound Museum Great collectors item here. | ||||||||||||
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