Hudson Bay Token 1/8

I've requested information from the online Hudson Bay historian.

Not much here; https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/...e_tokens.pdf

More about punching here; http://www.calgarycoin.com/modern/cantoken.htm

A little by Gingras here; http://gosling.ca/HBC/Medals%20and%...r%201968.pdf

Apparently there's something by Gingras in "The Beaver" but you have to be a member.
Also something in back issues of CN Journal from 2007, but I don't know how you access those, 2007 isn't in the online archives.

I'm still at a loss for information on the token being silver or a like material or plating. Would anyone have anything to add?

IMHO. it's better defined as a hole. If one was to continually apply a punch mark to the same spot on a coin/token, the end result would be a hole, would it not? To my reckoning, a hole indicates the absence of metal or any mark. A coin/token that's marked with a punch is punch-marked, I believe; this with a punch-mark being the general term for a hallmark or maker's mark, a counterstamp or a countermark. Just my Two Cents ...

The holes on the Beaver tokens were strategically positioned in the same spot, so as to not disturb the legends. This being the case, I'm doubtful that these neatly formed holes were a form of cancellation. My guess is that some were simply made this way and others not. I'd also venture that some of the recipients of these tokens would probably prefer to have holed ones that could be strung together, and that could be the reason why holed specimens exist.

You may want to do a specific gravity test to determine the composition.. Also, are there any tokens from that era and region which are of similar fabric?

Here's a good instruction site for determining specific gravity:

http://www.exonumi.com/?page=article&art=1

Just thinking outside the box here but perhaps contact the national archives or manitoba archives... (they have a pretty large amount of HBC archives) which with a simple phone call you may get a few more answers..

Just on a side note .. the Manitoba archives has some fantastic HBC records.. if you're ever in Winnipeg and have some time to kill... what little the archives has on display is always facinating...

I tried requesting the 2007 journals from my library, but they won't send the whole thing over since it's being stored off site. They want me to fill out a form with what issue and what pages, and they will photocopy those pages and give the photocopy to me. I don't know anything on that...