Selwyn House School - Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR 1954-1955 John Le Moine contributed gold too. He showed California gold in eight coins, minted during the gold rush of 1848. He had two .American gold coins of a later date also. The Library was greatly privileged to have these. Alex Grant showed a japanese note for 100 yen. This we have not had before in the library. Michael Guite lent some rare coins. Amongst them there was a silver coin from japan: a penny and also a stamp from Eire. David llurfin contributed a collection of stamps showing the rebuilding of various countries in Europe after the war. Geoffrey Gaherty interested us specially in his group of coins from Ice- land, as we rarely see them in the Library. Harry Bloomfield showed Israel money and stamps which were a novel sight here. He had an ancient coin which aroused much interest. It had been found in Palestine, now Israel, and had on it an inscription of Herod Agrippa the First, A.D. 37-44. There were also two other coins, of the Roman period appar- ently, in his exhibit. Allan Zinman added a token showing the seven-branched Candlestick. Ditlief Knudsen lent the library an American Internal Revenue Special Tax Stamp lor Tobacco. dated 1873. It was certainly the largest stamp ever exhibited here. It measured 1-1 by 7 inches. This was most interesting. A group of sport stamps was shown by William Hesler, and also an ex- cellent set ol hlty-hve portrait stamps depicting distinguished men in many different countries. This exhibit was much appreciated. Christopher Hyde made a very interesting contribution to the Stamps and Coins Exhibition by lending four Canadian silver dollars dated from 1939 to 1953. These are now quite scarce. Richard Cdd lent the Library a collection of valuable stamps which included samples, not only from many countries of Europe, but even from Russia. There were other exhibits which gave much pleasure contributed by Rodney Smith, Lawrence Gainsbury, Patrick Doheny. Eric Rousseau, Miles Tyrer, Christopher Coristine and Robert Bruce. During the month of january 1955, an Exhibition of Weapons was held. Remarkably interesting examples were contributed by members of the Library. There were dreadful-looking knives, swords and daggers from japan, China, India, Africa, Italy, Germany, Scotland and North America. Stephen Parker lent a most terrifying object, a Hara-Kiri sword in a beautiful ivory sheath. The sharp, heavy sword was slightly curved, while the sheath was all too explicitly engraved, depicting as it did a member of the Japan- ese nobility committing suicide. Stephen Parker also contributed a Scotch dirk, an item which is carried conveniently in the stocking. A sharp knife in a bamboo sheath was exhibited by john Harding. It came from China, and was the object of much curiosity. Murdoch Laing lent a small curved dagger from India. It had a beauti- fully enamelled handle and looked almost Persian. l15l

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SELWYN HOVSE SCHOOL MAGAZINE two inch to half an inch shells, and were perfect in form. Aleco Kairis lent some interesting examples from Florida, specially a good whelk. Richard Hunt brought a very large, dark scallop shell, lovely in color, from a Maine beach. Peter Russel's collection of beautiful cockle shells drew much attention. Some of them were as small and delicate as jewels. Yytis Iiaestli and Howard Sherback both brought shells of interest. Stephen Paquet showed us a sea horse with a tiny baby sea horse, in which we were most interested. john Edd, now in his first year at McGill, presented the Library with very fine specimens of shells from his own collection. These we were glad to have. During the last week of September Michael Berrill brought us a model of a 'Fish House'. It was a copy made by him of the work-house used by the fisher- men on the coast of Maine. The model itself, fourteen inches long by five inches wide, contained all the implements and objects necessary in the work of the fishermen and their activities. Everything was modelled according to scale. A dory, ready to leave for the sea, was tied to the Fish House, while another was upside down and drying out. A roller for drying the nets was nearby, with nets on it. There was a 'Hoist' for bringing up the nets full of hsh. There were black and white buoys to show the position of oyster traps. All the many tools of the hsherman were there, and even reserves of many of them. Near the Fish House were models of a seal, a porpoise and a whale-all made by Michael. XYe were allowed to keep the model for two weeks, and, when it had to be removed, Michael left, in its place, a lovely sea fan and other specimens of coral. A fitting end to our Sea Exhibit. During the first week in October an exhibition of coins and stamps was opened. Stephen Parker was the first contributor with an outstanding collection: four early Victorian stamps were particularly noted. We were interested to see that the hair style in the Queens portrait resembled the 'pony switch' of today. A George III penny of 1797 was also of great interest, as were the silver, copper coins and stamps of Elizabeth II's coronation. Stephen also showed stamps of European countries, as well as of India and Egypt. This was a most compre- hensive exhibit. Bill Hambly's collection of bank notes attracted much attention and the coins in his group were interesting, more especially those of France during the German Occupation. .-X bill which he showed from the Island of Martinique was a rare one in the Library. So many other coins in his collection were of interest, but lack of space prevents a description of them. Maxi Ferro showed bank notes from Italy. Poland and Greece. The por- trait of Sophocles on a ten lire note was beautifully engraved. There was also a striking design on a Polish note of 1030 and a good design on a note from Greece. George Thomson lent a Russian gold coin of tifteen roubles QS-20.00l with a portrait on it of the last fzar of Russia, Nicholas ll. lt was dated 1897. He also lent gold coins of the l'nited States. l14l

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SELWYN HOUSE SCHOOL MAGAZINE Carlo de Rege showed a Moorish dagger from North Africa. It looked delicate but deadly. Germany was represented by three horribly business-like straight daggers. The one lent by Harry Bloomfield was captured from a Nazi Storm Trooper. Stephen Paquet's dagger dated from Germany in 1938. lt had a handsome ivory handle and a long straight blade. Robert Hallett let us show a copy of a Nazi knife. Timothy Gilbert's 'kukri' knife from lndia was one of the most important of the exhibits. lt was even more terrible than the daggers. A primitive leather sheath protected it: its wide blade was heavy and long. lt was slightly curved and was a weapon used in peace time for domestic purposes as well as in time of war for hand-to-hand lighting. David Bogert lent a fine example of an NYIII century pistol. The brass work on it was especially admired. lt was the only pistol in the exhibit. North America in 1812 was brought to mind by a large bullet found on the battlefield of Queenston Heights. This was lent by Roger Bellingham. :X cavalry sword made in Montreal at H357 St. Paul St. tengraved on the handled probably dated from the time of Queen Yictoria. Stephen Parker exhibited this, while Robert Aikman showed a handsome dress sword of the Slvanish-:Xmerican period. Roger Bellingham supplied a fencing foil and mask, which, with the kind gift of Professor Nobbs of his book on Fencing Tactics, gave a fitting introduction to the art of hghting. Guns were lent by Peter Russel and Timothy foristine. The former exhibited a 12 guage shot gun of 1861 and a breech-loading rifle ol 1862, while the latter lent a XYinchester repeating rifle. The guns were an invitation to markmanship and after queues had been formed and curiosity satisfied, the guns were removed for safe-keeping. Much interest was taken in the bullet pouch lent by Robert Aikman. lt apparently dated from the early part ol the NIN century and. to add to the interest, it was full ol bullets. Peter Nobbs let us show a model of a cannon, such as was used in the Tudor period. lt was well modelled in brass and mounted on a wooden carriage. liric Rousseau contributed a large shell of an explosive used in the last war. The 'Weapon Exhibit' was tittingly brought to a close by the loan of Stephen Parker's very tine lndian Peace Pipe. lt had belonged to an lndian Vhief in the XYest of Canada and was decorated with the original bead fringe. The l.ibrary had some extra exhibits which were of interest to all. They ranged from moths to elephant tusks. Peter Terroux lent two Field Signal Corps telephones of 1914. These found a place with our military exhibition. Paul St. Pierre lent three beautifully marked butterflies, and Peter Russel lent twelve specimens of moths, with a book describing their varieties. Donald Steven added a deceased frog, its natural colour somewhat marred. l16l