The Vancouver Numismatic Society
The third picture is of an old friend and former VNS member, Bob Gildert, on the left hand with Guiseppe Iorio, his business associate at Chantou International. The photo was taken at the Vancouver Numismatic Society’s 2006 money show in the Oakridge Auditorium. Bob dealt in banknotes of many nations and was a regular participant in local currency shows. He was vice-president of the North Shore Numismatic Society for many years. Bob survived with a form of blood cancer for a long time and died on November 25th, 2025. I remember him as a friendly and earnest person devoted to our hobby. - Peter
The Famous B.C. Salmon Seiner and an old Friend by Peter N. Moogk
In Canada’s 1972 banknote series the five-dollar bill’s back features a fishing seiner in a West Coast setting. Charlton’s catalogue describes the scene as “Salmon seiner, Johnston Strait, Vancouver Island.” This was no artistic fantasy, but a real scene of an actual boat. That boat was a wooden hulled vessel, built in 1927 at the Burrard Shipyard in Vancouver’s Coal Harbour. The 14.3-metre boat had an 80-horsepower engine. In 1942-59 it was owned by Harry Assu, a Kwakiutl fisherman from Quadra Island. It was connected to a B.C. Packers fish cannery and assigned the number 45. The clover painted on the top of the pilot house is a reference to B.C. Packers’ Clover Leaf Brand canned salmon. Today BCP 45 is a National Historic Site on display at Campbell River’s Maritime Heritage Centre. That is where I photographed it. The boat has been restored to its 1958 configuration. It is the oldest and best-preserved example of British Columbian seiner of the interwar years. The boat’s image remained on the five-dollar banknote until 1986.