Catalog
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| Issuer | W.C. Macdonald Inc. |
|---|---|
| Year | 1933 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Other (thin cardboard) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central trade mark vignette framed by a rectangular border with decorative corner flourishes, enclosing a stylised tobacco leaf on which the firm name and product lines are inscribed. Letterpress text in blue ink above and below the vignette. Plain cream cardboard background without underprint. |
| Reverse lettering | FOR OVER SEVENTY YEARS THIS TRADE MARK HAS BEEN KNOWN THROUGHOUT CANADA AS THE SAFEST GUIDE TO RELIABLE TOBACCO PRODUCTS --- W. C. MACDONALD INC. MANUFACTURERS OF FINE TOBACCOS AND CIGARETTES MONTREAL. --- TRADE MARK REGISTERED THE LARGEST INDEPENDENT TOBACCO MANUFACTURERS IN CANADA |
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| Comments |
W.C. Macdonald was one of Canada's largest tobacco manufacturers, operating out of Montreal for over a century. In 1933, at the depths of the Depression, the company issued these small cardboard vouchers under the "British Consols" brand name — a reference to their popular cigarette line, not to British government bonds. The vouchers functioned as a premium redemption scheme, inserted into cigarette packages and exchangeable for goods from a catalog, a common loyalty mechanic Canadian tobacco firms ran aggressively through the 1930s.
Thin cardboard construction meant high attrition; intact examples with no splitting along the edges are genuinely uncommon.