Material Type

Artifact

Date Range From

1980

Date Range To

1990

Materials

PAPER

No. Pieces

1

Height

0.1

Length

8.8

Width

5.0

Description

WHITE CARD WITH BLACK PRINT. READS "CANADIAN COINS BUY-SELL-TRADE E. A. STEWART C.N.A. NO. 2111 P.O. BOX 363 LETHBRIDE, ALBERTA PHONE (403) 327-0140". ONE SIDE OF CARD HAS FAINT WRINKLES ON BACK. SLIGHT WEAR ON 3 CORNERS.

Subjects

DOCUMENTARY ARTIFACT

Historical Association

BUSINESS

History

CAME FROM THE BELONGINGS OF DONOR'S FATHER EVERETT STEWART. BORN IN 1912 TO WILLIAM AND SARAH JANE (CUTT) STEWART IN INDIAN HEAD, SASKATCHEWAN. HIS FAMILY FARMED UNTIL THE 1930S, WHEN THE DROUGHT HIT AND HARD TIMES FORCED THEM TO MOVE. EVERETT STAYED AND ATTENDED THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN AT SASKATOON WHERE HE GRADUATED WITH A DEGREE IN PHARMACY IN 1937. HE THEN WORKED IN PHARMACIES IN INDIAN HEAD AND REGINA. ON JUNE 15, 1939, EVERETT MARRIED MARJORIE BAILEY. HE THEN SIGNED UP WITH THE CANADIAN ARMED FORCES AS AN ARTILLERY OFFICER IN WWII. THEIR DAUGHTER MARGARET JEAN (DONOR) WAS BORN ON MAY 31, 1943. AFTER THE WAR, WITH FUNDING GIVEN TO VETERANS, EVERETT OPENED HIS OWN DRUG STORE IN SUTHERLAND, SASKATCHEWAN. HIS WAS THE FIRST DRUG STORE IN SUTHERLAND AND HE STRUGGLED WITH MAKING IT A VIABLE BUSINESS. THEN IN 1949 HE SOLD THE BUSINESS AND TOOK A SALES POSITION WITH CHARLES E. FROSST & COMPANY WHICH WAS THE LAST WHOLLY OWNED CANADIAN DRUG FIRM. HE AND HIS FAMILY WERE MOVED TO BRANDON, MANITOBA (1949 TO 1955). THE FIRM THEN TRANSFERRED EVERETT TO LETHBRIDGE, WHERE HE REMAINED. AFTER HIS WIFE MARJORIE DIED (1905-1967) HE KEPT BUSY WITH HIS VAST COIN COLLECTION THAT WAS HIS PASSION. HE ATTENDED MANY COIN SHOWS THROUGHOUT CANADA AND THE U.S. AND BOUGHT, TRADED, AND SOLD MOSTLY CANADIAN COINS. THEN ON JULY 22, 1974, HE MARRIED IRENE EVANS (1906-2002) FROM BILLINGS MONTANA. IN 1976 FROSST & CO. RETIRED EVERETT. AFTER THAT THEY SPENT 6 MONTHS A YEAR IN LETHBRIDGE AND 6 MONTHS IN MESA, ARIZONA. EVERETT WAS A LONG TIME MEMBER AND PAST PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATED CANADIAN TRAVELERS IN BRANDON, MANITOBA AND LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA; A FOUNDING MEMBER AND THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE LION'S CLUB IN SUTHERLAND, SASKATCHEWAN; A MEMBER OF THE MASONIC LODGE AND THE LETHBRIDGE AL AZHAR SHRINE CLUB. BESIDES HIS EVER-GROWING COIN COLLECTION, HE RESTORED A 1926 MODEL A FORD. EVERETT PASSED AWAY IN HIS HOME FROM CANCER IN 1993. *UPDATE* IN 2018, COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT ELISE PUNDYK CONDUCTED A SURVEY OF PERSONAL ARTIFACTS INCLUDING SOME DONATIONS MADE BY JEAN JOHNSTONE (NEE POTTS). AN INTERVIEW WITH THE ORIGINAL DONOR JEAN JOHNSTONE WAS CONDUCTED. WHEN ASKED IF SHE REMEMBERED THE ARTIFACT SHE STATED, “WELL MY FATHER WAS A NUMISMATIST AND HE WOULD GO TO ALL THESE FAIRS AND THINGS AND HE WOULD SELL HIS COINS… THAT WAS HIS CALLING CARD AND ANOTHER ONE OF HIS – THAT WHEN HE WOULD SET UP A TABLE ANYWHERE HE WOULD HAVE HIS NAME SO PEOPLE KNEW WHO HE WAS AND WHAT HE WAS DOING.” “I CAN REMEMBER HIM STARTING HIS COIN COLLECTION AND HE WAS - BECAUSE HE WORKED FOR FROST AND HE WAS ON THE ROAD HE’D SOMETIMES BE GONE TWO WEEKS AT A TIME. WHEN WE MOVED TO LETHBRIDGE HE WAS GONE THREE WEEKS AT A TIME INTO BC SO HE DID ALL THAT SORT OF STUFF - HE HAD HIS HOBBIES RIGHT. SO HE MIGHT FISH OR HUNT BUT HE ALSO DID THAT. AND SO HE WENT IN FACT IN 19 - THE REASON I KNOW THIS WAS MY DAUGHTER WAS BORN SO IN 1965 HE WENT DOWN TO THE UNITED STATES TO THE FURTHEST HE’D GONE. HE WENT TO DENVER THAT FALL TO A SHOW AND HE AND HIS WIFE, HIS SECOND WIFE, WENT TO MESA. THEY HAD A PLACE IN MESA. HE WENT TO ALL THE SHOWS DOWN THERE TOO SELLING AND HE WAS, THAT WAS HIS WHOLE THING WHEN HE RETIRED HE WAS ABOUT SIXTY-TWO… SO COINS BECAME VERY IMPORTANT THEN AND BECAME KIND OF A BUSINESS TO HIM TO GO TO ALL THESE SHOWS, SO IT WAS VERY FULFILLING FOR HIM.” “…WHEN HE PASSED AWAY IN 1993 I TOOK MOST OF HIS - WHAT WAS LEFT OF HIS COIN COLLECTION BECAUSE HE HAD BEEN TRYING TO GET RID OF A LOT OF IT - AND I SOLD IT TO AUBURN COINS IN CALGARY, A FELLOW WHO KNEW DAD, AND SAID THAT WAS THE LARGEST SINGLE COLLECTION FROM A SINGLE COLLECTOR THAT HE HAD EVER TAKEN IN…HE COLLECTED EVERYTHING HE WAS A COLLECTOR OF THINGS AND EVEN AFTER HE PASSED AWAY HE HAD, TWO BIG SAFES IN THE HOUSE PLUS SOME OTHER SMALLER ONES… THIS FLOOR TYPE BIG SAFES IN THE HOUSE. AND HE EVEN CHANGED SOME OF THE COINS INTO, WHAT DO YOU CALL THEM NOT BULLION BUT I SUPPOSE IT IS LIKE GOLD PIECES AND SILVER PIECES…WHERE HE RAN OUT OF ROOM SO HE’D STICK YOU KNOW A WHOLE SECTION OF ROLLED COINS UP INTO THE RAFTERS. IT WAS EVERYWHERE. IT WAS JUST INCREDIBLE…SO IT TOOK US TWO TRIPS IN THE MOTORHOME BECAUSE IT WAS TOO HEAVY SO IT TOOK US TWO TRIPS TO GET ANDREW AND I TO GET IT UP TO AUBREY’S COINS IN CALGARY.” THE INTERVIEW AND A FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THE INTERVIEW CAN BE FOUND IN PERMANENT FILE.

Catalogue Number

P20000011036

Acquisition Date

2004-06

Collection

Museum

Less detail