Sasktoon Coin Club "Hubucks"
NOTE: Special thanks go to Ron Rogal, as well as our club President Cliff Beattie and past President/Club Librarian Gary Meckling for letting me tap their boundless knowledge of the club's history.Without their help and diligence all these years, this section of the club's history would have been scattered to the four winds...
INTRODUCTION
In 1985 our President Gary Meckling and Treasurer Herb Bieber had an idea to produce a series of special club banknotes. They chose the name "Hubuck" as a play on words based on Saskatoon's nickname of the Hub City (Hub Buck).
The idea was that members could earn these notes by attending monthly meetings, giving presentations, helping stage our annual Coin and Stamp Show or providing other services for the club.
The denominations chosen were 100, 400 and 1000 Hubucks.
Once per year (in March) the club holds a special auction for a number of gift certificates which can be redeemed at Sceptre Coin and Stamp in downtown Saskatoon. These auctions can only be won by bidding with Hubucks.
In 2020 the club issued a special 60th Anniversary 5000 Hubuck note.
FACE DESIGN |
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As shown in this photo the face of each denomination has a unique border. 
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The background of each denomination is a composite photo of Saskatoon. The top half of the photo is a view of the downtown Saskatoon skyline in 1985,
while the bottom half of the photo shows a group of ox carts crossing the South Saskatchewan river via a hand-drawn ferry in the very early days of the settlement   It has since been discovered that the above postcard used the image below for it's bottom half: 
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BACK DESIGN |
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The back of each denomination is identical and shows an iconic view of Saskatoon by framing the Bessborough hotel inside one of the arches of the Broadway Bridge. It appears that the photo used was taken from a postcard which was issued sometime soon after the Bessborough Hotel was completed in 1935. One of the most striking aspects of this photo is the lack of other buildings in the skyline at that time. |
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CHRONOLOGY The following table shows examples of each denomination and the signatures that were applied during each major phase of the club's history starting with the original Hubuck issues in 1985. |
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The first issue of Hubuck notes bear the signatures of Club President Gary Meckling and Treasurer Herb Bieber, who co-invented and designed the Hubuck.
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To commemorate the first release of these notes a special, between 30 and 50 sets of souvenir notes were printed with a counterstamp next to the serial number.
These notes were not considered legal tender in the club, and were sold to members. The 100 Hubuck notes all had the same first digit of 3, the 400 Hubuck note serial numbers started with 4 and
the 1000 Hubuck note serial numbers started with 5. The remaining three digits in each note were the same for all three denominations as illustrated below. The known serial numbers for these notes are as follows:
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This issue of Hubuck notes bear the signatures of Club President Robert L. Naphin and Treasurer Herb Bieber.
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This issue of Hubuck notes bear the signatures of Club President Cliff Beattie and Treasurer Herb Bieber. |
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NOTE: During this time frame an unknown number of 100 and 400 Hubuck notes had a counterstamp added in blue ink using the same stamp that was used for the special Hubucks issued when they were first released.
It is believed that Herb Bieber applied these counterstamps. It is also unknown if any 1000 Hubuck notes were counterstamped in this way. |
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This issue of Hubuck notes bear the signatures of Club President Gerald Sander (who stepped into the role when Cliff Beattie took a leave of absence) and Treasurer Herb Bieber.
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This issue of Hubuck notes bear the signatures of Club President Cliff Beattie and Treasurer Herb Bieber. Cliff Beattie returned to the position of club President and a "B" counterstamp was added
beside his signature to indicate which Hubuck notes were issued during this time frame as opposed to his original term.
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This issue of Hubuck notes bear the signatures of Club President Cliff Beattie and Treasurer Gerald Sander, who took over the role after Herb Bieber retired.
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Diamond Anniversary 5000 Hubuck Notes 2020 marks the sixtieth anniversary of the Saskatoon Coin Club. To commemorate this event Jim MacKenzie and Cliff Beattie designed a special 5000 Hubuck note. In the spirit of the Centennial one dollar notes issued in 1967, a circulating version was issued using sequential serial numbers, and a souvenir version with the serial number "1960-2020" was designed to be gifted to the members of the club during our anniversary year. The example shown to the left is that of the souvenir version. These notes use the original design for a 5 dollar note which was intended for release by the Bank of Saskatchewan, but the bank folded before any notes were issued. As you can see below a large number of modifications to the original design were made.  
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