Publications and Research

Autumn 1999

The Corporate Bond Market in Canada by Martin Miville and André Bernier Markets for Government of Canada Securities in the 1990s: Liquidity and Cross-Country Comparisons by Toni Gravelle Real Exchange Rate Indexes for the Canadian Dollar by Robert Lafrance and Pierre St-Amant See also: Tables A1, A2, and Notes to the Tables

Cover: Canadian dairy tokens

The Canadian dairy industry is a multi-billion dollar business in which most Canadians are invovled—if not as producers or employees, then as consumers of its wide range of products. It is also an industry with a tangible numismatic legacy in the form of tokens and tickets that were once used by customers to purchase dairy products.

From before the First World War until the early 1960s, many Canadian dairies used tokens to facilitate sales. Consumers typically purchased a quantity of these pieces from the dairy and later exchanged them for products as needed. Since tokens represented payment in advance, they were sold at a slight discount from the regular price of the product. In the days of home delivery, this system almost eliminated the need to make change. This provided the milkmen with a measure of security since they carried little or no cash.

Dairy tokens were made of metal, plastic, or paper in various sizes and colours. They usually carried the name of the dairy, a designation of the item (cream or milk) for which they could be exchanged, and an indication of the quantity involved. Tokens were ’denominated“ in quantities of ½ or 1 pint; 1, 2, or 3 quarts; and ½ gallon. The type of milk was variously described as standard, pasteurized, homogenized, Jersey, Guernsey, skim, 2 per cent, fat-free, or non-fat. One token (not shown) proudly states that the milk was “tuberculin tested.”

These examples represent all 10 provinces and range in size from that of a five-cent piece to a two-dollar coin.

These tokens are part of the National Currency Collection at the Bank of Canada.

Photography by James Zagon.