Private company

Charlton Press

Logo: charltonpress.com³

Canadian publishing company

The Charlton Press is a book publishing company that produces pricing guides as well as other books on related topics, including collectibles (coins, banknotes, medals, sports cards, clocks, and dolls) and porcelain figures. The company's first title was Catalogue of Canadian Coins, Tokens & Fractional Currency, published in 1952, and contained all coins used as circulating tender in Canada from 1858 until present.² Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

Websitewww.charltonpress.com

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The story

Origins of the Charlton Press

It was James (Jim) Charlton's (July 26, 1911 – September 20, 2013) experience as an avid numismatist that inspired him to create a catalogue for coin collectors. In 1926, when Jim Charlton was 15, his older brother Harry Charlton gifted him a United States 1863 Indian Head cent.

It was from this initial exposure to coins that Jim Charlton developed an interest in numismatics, frequently visiting coin dealers, and purchasing coins from second-hand stores in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Charlton continued to cultivate his interest in coins while moving to Northern Ontario for work as an engineer from 1933 to 1948. However, it was his return to Toronto in April 1948 after accepting a position as a steam engineer for the Star (now Toronto Star) that allowed him to expand his collection. By actively acquiring withdrawn circulation coinage from bank acquisitions, coin auctions, and inventories from coin shops, Charlton's collection grew exponentially.

While continuing his work as chief steam engineer at The Star, Charlton ran Canada Coin Exchange, a coin business from his home on a part-time basis during evenings and Saturdays with his wife Mary (nee Tyndall) from 1948 until 1956.

Canada Coin Exchange: The early years (1952–1959)

Charlton had been actively buying and selling coins since 1948 and conducting a number of mail auction sales beginning in 1950. It was during this time that he realized the need for a Canadian catalogue which would provide accurate values of coins. Based on his experience as an auctioneer, he realized that the only catalogue on Canadian coins, one published by Wayte Raymond (Coins and Tokens of Canada, 1947), was outdated. While Raymond's publication listed coinage by dates, mint marks, mintages and values, and was an improvement from its earlier 1937 publication, listed coin values did not correspond to the values received at bid during auction. It was the selling prices of those sales in which Charlton auctioneered that helped to establish the baseline values for the first catalogue.

In 1952, Jim Charlton with the assistance of Fred Bowman and other numismatic students, released the company's first title, the Catalogue of Canadian Coins, Tokens & Fractional Currency, 1st edition. A publication at 34 pages, the catalogue filled a void for Canadian coin collectors and featured then current values and listings of Canadian coins. The original catalogue and all catalogues until 1959, were saddle-stitched with various coloured paper covers. Folded sheets were correlated and then stapled through the folded cover crease from the outside. With the exception of 1954, the catalogue was updated yearly until 1959 when the catalogue underwent a major revision.

The growing popularity of numismatics in Canada in the 1950s necessitated Jim Charlton's expansion of his home-based business into a separate retail location. He opened Canada Coin Exchange at 53 Front Street, Toronto, Ontario, on August 2, 1956. A few months after opening Front Street, Charlton, his wife, and two employees suffered a botched armed robbery at gunpoint by two Toronto men. Due to safety concerns, Charlton then relocated Canada Coin Exchange and consolidated the store, office, and warehouse into one location. His new shop at 80 Richmond Street, Toronto, Ontario, was opened on October 31, 1958, and his operations remained there until August 1965.

The Whitman years (1960–1969)

In 1959, the coin catalogue (8th edition) underwent a major revision not only in terms of its content, but also with regards to the logistics of publication and distribution.

Yeoman and Bressett

Before the printing of the catalogue's 8th edition, Charlton had been contacted by Richard S. Yeoman (of Yeoman and Bressett) with a proposal for a new expanded edition to the Catalogue of Canadian Coins, Tokens & Fractional Currency. Having the facilities, experience and market potential that Jim Charlton lacked, Yeoman and Bressett became responsible for the printing, sales, and distribution of the catalogues through Whitman's Coin Products Division for the next ten years (1960–1969) until the 19th edition. During the "Whitman Years", the catalogue was modified to a blue hardcover case bound publication, where individual segments were sewn together, before the spine was flattened, and the hard cover attached. The blue cloth-bound soil-resistant hard cover was continued until 1969.

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Having Richard Yeoman handle the Charlton catalogue was a fortuitous pairing for the Canadian coin catalogue. Yeoman was an integral part of Whitman Publishing. He had helped to cultivate an extensive sales network for coin related material. His experience in compiling definitive coin price guides (the Handbook of United States Coins aka the Blue Book, and A Guide Book of United States Coins aka the Red Book) was invaluable in increasing sales and interest in Canadian numismatics.

In addition to pairing with Whitman, modifications were also made to the content of the 1960 catalogue. The catalogue itself underwent a formatting modification, with the incorporation of more individual and larger illustrations of coins and tokens, additional information on coins and bills themselves, reassembling of data, mint statistics and prices on one page, the inclusion of grading standards, the inclusion of die varieties never previously catalogued, and an increase in pages to 128 from its previously 34. The length of the catalogue was limited to no more than 128 pages given the limitations of printing technology. At the time, a press could only handle a sheet that contained the equivalent of 128 smaller sheets.

The inclusion of government paper money

For the first time, Jim Charlton also included government paper money issues of Canada and Newfoundland in its catalogue listings. This resulted in renaming the catalogue from the Catalogue of Canadian Coins, Tokens & Fractional Currency to the Standard Catalogue of Canadian Coins, Token & Paper Money.

But the inclusion of paper money in the catalogue was not without its difficulties. Jim Charlton had long desired for his catalogue to reflect the growing interest in paper bills. When he explored the possibility in 1954, he encountered obstacles given that he had not received permission to publish such a catalogue with illustrations of paper money from the Bank of Canada and the Department of Finance. Doing so would contravene the Criminal Code (section 471(b)551).

At the same time that Charlton was exploring the possibility of incorporating bank note illustrations, James Elliott Jr. was independently working on a paper money catalogue. But, unlike Elliott who published his catalogue without illustrations, Charlton took a risk and published a modest catalogue on Canadian and Newfoundland government paper money with a 1955 issue date using reduced size note face illustrations. Charlton was hopeful that no action would be taken against him by the Government of Canada. Years prior in 1947, the Department of Finance had not instigated legal proceedings against W.H. Kernohan of Forest, Ontario who had released educational material in the form of a chart featuring banknote illustrations. As Jim Charlton stated about Kernohan, "So, I figured to myself, 'if he can do that, I think I've got a good case if they decide to come after me.'"

Nonetheless, fearing seizure of the printed matter, Charlton kept the majority of the publications in the basement of his brother's residence in Mississauga, Ontario. Luckily, no such seizure occurred and in fact, the Central Bank ordered a copy of the catalogue. It was soon thereafter that Elliott released a second catalogue with full illustrations of paper bills, using fronts and backs.

The new format and content was well received in a book review printed in The Numismatist's December 1959 issue. Hailed as a "milestone in Canadian numismatics," Charlton's catalogue was recommended for "the shelf of any collector interested in Canadian numismatics, or wishing to appreciate the place of these important series in the world picture."

Coin guide

In 1961, Canada Coin Exchange published The Charlton Coin Guide, the definitive guidebook on determining the worth and value of a coin. For those interested in coin accumulation evaluation, the Coin Guide contained not only buying prices for coins of Canada and Newfoundland, but also for Canadian Paper Money from 1935 Bank of Canada issues up to present times, Canadian colonial tokens, war medals and decorations, United States coinage and common gold coins of the world. In addition to legal tender coinage, the Coin Guide also provided information on all Royal Canadian Mint issues. The guide was created in response to a common problem of collectors experiencing difficulty discovering the value of their coins held.

Today, the Coin Guide is Canada's oldest continuously published buying guide and serves as a concise reference on the buying prices dealers will pay for coins. The Coin Guide is currently in its 54th edition.

Charlton and Whitman part ways

Charlton and Whitman eventually parted ways in 1970 after their decade-long pairing due to a disagreement over the pricing structure listed in the Canadian catalogue. Between 1965 and 1967, the coin business hit a recession in Canada. Proof like sets had peaked and new issues were flooding the market, saturating it. As a consequence, there was a significant price decrease in the market for coins and more dealers were turning to precious metals. Jim Charlton felt that reflecting this downturn in his catalogue was not warranted, whereas Whitman was adamant that values listed in the Canadian catalogue should account for the market's price decrease. Unable to reach a compromise, Jim Charlton once again resumed full publishing of Canadian Coins, Tokens and Paper Money.

With the demands of the coin business taking his free time from his wife Mary and son Jimmy, Jim Charlton left The Star after 13 years of employment in 1961. He continued his relationship with the newspaper in a capacity unrelated to his employed profession, that is, writing the Coins column for The Star until 1968.

The expansion of Canada Coin Exchange

Focusing entirely on his coin business, Jim Charlton opened a retail store for Canada Coin Exchange at 49 Queen Street East on June 26, 1963, while keeping the Richmond Street location as a warehouse. It was at this time that Charlton International Publishing Inc. was incorporated on August 28, 1963.

Eventually, operations of the store and office were transferred to 92 Jarvis Street in August 1965. While the business prospered, Jim Charlton found the demands deprived him of his time with family and he sold the supply business (Canadian Coin and Stamp Supply) along with the building to Jack Alexander Forbes of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia on July 2, 1967 while retaining the numismatic business (Canada Coin Exchange), which he relocated to 6 Adelaide Street East, Room 509. He also remained as editor and publisher of the Standard Catalogue of Canadian Coins, Tokens and Paper Money. The inventory of Canada Coin Exchange was eventually liquidated in 1969 under the new owners Richard Robinson and Fred Samuels on May 1, 1969.

The Charlton Publications (1970–1972) – 19th to 21st editions

After parting ways with Whitman, Jim Charlton resumed publication of the catalogue for the 1971 (the 19th edition). By the early 1970s, the condition of coins became an important factor of consideration for collectors. Grades for coins allowed collectors to more accurately estimate the value of their coins. Thus, with input from dealers who precipitated the change, the coin catalogue was not only modified to incorporate the value association with a coin's condition, but also incorporated more Canadian and Newfoundland bank paper issues. The total page number of the catalogue was increased to 200.

When Jim Charlton was editor of the catalogue, it was his common practise to walk around Toronto, asking dealers about the prices they were paying for coins. Charlton would then correlate these prices and adjust his catalogue figures as necessary. He continued this practise until 1976.

It was also at this time, that the Charlton catalogue moved away from the hard cover binding of the Whitman years, to perfect binding, a method where the pages and cover were glued together at the spine. Charlton International Publishing Inc. used perfect binding for their catalogues until 2003.

The Beginning of Volume I and Volume II of Canadian Coins

The 63rd edition of the Charlton Standard Catalogue on Canadian Coins (2009) was the final edition of the coin catalogue that contained all coins under one cover. Beginning with the 64th edition, The Charlton Press separated the catalogue into two volumes.

Volume one, covered numismatic issues whereas volume two focused on collector issues. This was undertaken because of the limitations of plastic coil binding at approximately 600 pages. Had the press not separated the catalogue, collectors would have been faced with an unwieldy 650-page book.

Today, the volumes are separated based on type of coinage. Canadian Coins, Volume One: Numismatic Issues catalogues coins which have been circulated in Canada from the time of the French Regime to present day, as well as coinage from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, and the Province of Canada, plus Specimen Coins and Sets, Patterns, and Test Tokens. Canadian Coins, Volume Two: Collector Issues catalogues collector and giftware products produced from 1954 to present, including Olympic coins, non-circulating legal tender coins (NCLT) and others.

Other numismatic, militaria and historical medal-related books

In addition to the above publications, The Charlton Press has also released a number of other numismatic, militaria, and historical medal related books including:

Exploring Canadian Colonial Tokens (1st edition)

First World War Canadian Infantry Badges (1st edition)

Medals of Governors General in Canada (1st edition)

Monnaies Canadiennes (the 50th Edition of the Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Coins (in French)

The Canadian Medal Rolls – Distinguished Conduct and Military Medal (1st edition)

The Canadian Medal Rolls – Distinguished Flying Medal (1939–1945) (1st edition)

The Charlton Colonial Token Workbook (1st edition)

The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Communion Tokens (1st edition)

The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Tire Cash Bonus Coupons (2nd edition)

The Charlton Standard Catalogue of the Canadian Numismatic Association's Medals and Awards (2nd edition)

The Medal Roll of the Red River Campaign of 1870 in Canada (1st edition)

World War One Canadian Corps Badges (1st edition)

From Wikipedia’s article on Charlton Press, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.⁴

Products and brands

Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Paper Money & Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Government Paper Money

Taking three years to compile information, The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Paper Money, 1st edition published in 1980 and The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Government Paper Money, 1st edition was published in 1984. The former publication was published with an impressive 820 pages due to the fact that The Charlton Press incorporated banknotes from over 152 Chartered Banks in Canada as well as a section on Merchant Scrip.

It was also at this time that the Charlton Catalogue Numbering System was introduced in the Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Paper Money. As a new feature, The Charlton Press identified every Canadian banknote with an identification number, a system that had been in place for Dominion notes and Bank of Canada notes already. As explained in the catalogue, each banknote was identified with a number in the form of "123-04B0-3a". The first series represented the bank number. The second series represented the issue and sub-issue(s) with two spaces for the issue number, one space for the sub-issue letter and one space for the sub-issue number. The third series represented the denomination and occurrence of the note.

The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Paper Money is published once every three years. The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Government Paper Money is published annually.

Charltons Standard Catalogue of Canadian Coins

After removing the paper money section from the coin catalogue, the coin catalogue was renamed to Charltons Standard Catalogue of Canadian Coins, 27th edition and included information on decimal coins, patterns, trial pieces, and collector's coins. The cleaving permitted the incorporation of more background information on varieties.

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Between 1976 and 1980, there was a run in gold and silver on the market. With prices rapidly fluctuating, The Charlton Press started issuing semi-annual releases (Winter and Summer) of the Standard Catalogue of Canadian Coins to keep up with the ever-fickle market. Thus from 1979 to 1984, there were 10 editions released in total (editions 27 to 38). Reverting to annual releases in 1985 account for The Charlton Press' release of its 69th edition in 2014, its 63rd year of operation.

Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Bank Notes

A year later in 1989, The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Paper Money, was renamed to The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Bank Notes to reflect the removal of Merchant Scrip from the catalogue's 1st edition. Merchant Scrip would receive its own catalogue in due time.

The catalogue contained all bank notes produced in Canada since the 1800s, from the Bank of Acadia to the Zimmerman Bank.

In the 8th edition released in 2014, the catalogue was updated and reorganized to accommodate more census information, to identify notes which had been donated to institutional collections, and to account for recently discovered notes. Listings were expanded and extensively revised for some bank notes, and notices were added reminding readers of valuations as being inextricably linked to Charlton grading standards.

Published with 616 pages, The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Bank Notes is currently in its 8th edition.

In November 1996, Charlton's relocated to 2040 Yonge Street, with the numismatics store occupying the ground floor, and the publishing portion occupying the upper level. Seven years later in November 2001, Bill Cross closed Charlton Numismatics to focus solely on Charlton Publishing, and relocated the business to North York, Ontario.

Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Coins

In 2003, the 57th edition, The Charlton Press once against redesigned the Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Coins by offering a plastic coil bound option as well as the perfect binding used from 1971 onward. While both varieties of binding were sold for the 57th edition, by the 58th edition, all Charlton Standard Catalogues of Canadian Coins had adopted the plastic coil bound format due to customer preference.

The 58th, 2004 edition saw three major additions to the catalogue which included a 40-page section on varieties (the first of a continuing series), portraits of Victorian Newfoundland were all illustrated, and finally, pricing was provided for Victorian portraits.

Incorporating a supplementary section on varieties in the Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Coins was to continue until the 69th edition. The supplements were as follows:

As editorial assistant Jean Dale of The Charlton Press notes, the supplementary lists included in the Charlton Catalogues are incomplete as "there are many more die varieties to be discovered as well as Chinese counterfeits to be found and illustrated."

In addition to housing a supplementary section on George VI varieties, the 61st edition was redesigned with fewer pages and its size was increased to 7 in × 9 in (180 mm × 230 mm), spiral bound. Tables carried up to 12 pricing columns.

Royal Doulton catalogues

The Charlton Press has introduced a number of other catalogues on such hobbyist pursuits as medals, sports cards, clocks, dolls, and porcelain figures. In fact, The Charlton Press' publication of catalogues on Royal Doulton Figurines has sold an estimated 100,000 copies worldwide.

Bill Cross recalls an historical anecdote involving the sale of Royal Doulton figurines and a murder plot at Charlton Numismatics. As he explains, a man had walked into Charlton Numismatics with a list of a couple hundred Royal Doulton figurines, which Cross purchased. As part of the purchase agreement, a helper from Charlton Numismatics picked up the figurines from the man's home, while also agreeing to drop off a trunk that was to be shipped to Vancouver. The transaction went smoothly, with the Royal Doulton figurines picked up, inventoried and itemized, while the trunk was dropped off at Toronto's Union station. After the trunk arrived in Vancouver, it was not claimed and when curious employees opened the trunk days later, they found the man's dead wife inside. The police came to Charlton Numismatics and seized all of the Royal Doulton figurines as they were needed as evidence in the court case. The man was convicted and eventually, the figurines were returned to Charlton Numismatics where they were then auctioned off.

Sports catalogues

The Charlton Press has also published catalogues in the Sports realm on Hockey Cards (16th edition), the Canadian Football Card Price Guide (4th edition), and the Canadian Baseball Card Price Guide (3rd edition).

In the Canadiana realm, there are: The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Dolls (3rd edition), The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Clocks (2nd edition), and The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Country Store Collectables (3rd edition)