Catalog
25 Cents - Canadian Tire Coupon
| Issuer | Canadian Tire Corporation Limited |
|---|---|
| Year | 1976 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | The face is printed in green tones on a pale guilloche underprint, with denomination counters of 25¢ at each corner within a fine lace-pattern border. At left, an intaglio vignette set within an oval frame presents a maple leaf above the five Olympic rings, alluding to the 1976 Montreal Summer Games, while to the right the serif logotype of Canadian Tire Corporation Limited appears beneath the "CASH BONUS" legend. A highlighted central band carries the bilingual redemption clause in both English and French, with facsimile signatures of the Treasurer and President printed below. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CASH BONUS 25¢ CANADIAN TIRE 25¢ CORPORATION LIMITED REDEEMABLE IN MERCHANDISE - REMBOURSABLE EN MARCHANDISE AT CANADIAN TIRE STORE OR GAS BAR · AU MAGASIN OU BAR D'ESSENCE CANADIAN TIRE 25¢ TREASURER PRESIDENT 25¢ BON D'ACHAT |
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| Comments |
Canadian Tire's house currency — officially "Canadian Tire 'Money'" — began in 1958 as a loyalty scheme to compete with trading stamps, and by the 1970s the company was printing hundreds of millions of pieces annually. BA International, the Ottawa firm with deep roots in Canadian federal banknote production, printed the coupons to a specification close enough to actual currency that the Bank of Canada reportedly monitored the program with some interest. The coupons were legal tender for nothing, but functioned as a remarkably durable parallel retail economy across the country for decades.
Redemption rates were always well below 100%, which was, of course, the point.