Beautifully engraved specimen certificate from the
Ville De Laval printed in 1995. This historic document was printed by Yvon Boulanger and has an
ornate border around it with a vignette of company title. This item has printed signatures by the City's Treasurer and Mayor and is over 10 years old.
Certificate Vignette
Early beginnings
Established as a seigneury and granted to the Jesuits
in 1636, Île Jésus was one of the first domanial
institutions created by La Compagnie des Cent
Associés (Company of the 100 associates) near
Hochelaga. It was officially taken over in 1638, four
years before Montréal was founded; however, its
development was by far slower than that of its
neighbour. Agricultural operations only began there in
1670 under François Berthelot, K.C.
According to a report written by Jean Talon and dated
March 13, 1673, there was a main manor there at the
time and the crops for the two preceding years had
produced 600 pecks of wheat. In his diary for the years
1672-1674, Father Dalmas, S.J., mentions the
existence of a number of dwellings as well.
The first land grants date back only to 1675, however,
or soon after, under Mgr. François-Xavier Montmorency
de Laval, the first bishop of New France, who had
acquired the seigneury and who later gave it to the
Québec Seminary.
The census of 1681 indicates that four families were
living on the east end of the island. By 1702, the
growth of the population warranted the foundation of
the first parish, which was dedicated to Saint-François
de Sales.
As more settlers arrived, land development gradually
continued westward, thereby creating the need for new
parishes, which, in 1845, formed the boundaries for the
first four civic municipalities. As a result, for two
centuries, Île Jésus was exclusively used as farm land.
At that time, there was only one built-up area, which
became the village of Sainte-Rose in 1850, and
remained the island’s main town until the end of the
19th century.
From rural to urban life
Urbanization of the island began slowly at the
beginning of the twentieth century, with the founding of
the city of Laval-des-Rapides (1912), and the village of
l’Abord-à-Plouffe (1915).
At that time, Île Jésus was mainly a tourist attraction
and proved to be an ideal resort for Montrealers,
thereby accounting for the founding of Laval-sur-le-Lac,
at the western tip of the island, in 1915.
The division of head parishes began about the same
time, continuing through to 1960 and even accelerating
during the following decade. This last period, which was
marked by unprecedented prosperity, in fact coincided
with a wave of metropolitan expansion that brought
huge migration towards the suburbs, and particularly to
Île Jésus.
This sudden influx of population and the unbridled
development it caused gave rise to problems common
to all neighbouring municipalities subjected to
excessively rapid growth: substantial investments,
costly duplication of equipment; an increase in the
number of administrative duties; disparity in the cost
and quality of services; conurbation; conflicts between
municipalities and a lack of resources.
To solve this situation, some authorities proceeded with
the first merger of municipalities, grouping the towns of
l’Abord-à-Plouffe and Renaud and the city of Saint
Martin and creating the city of Chomedey in 1961.
This initial move stimulated a varied local development
and proved to be financially profitable, but nevertheless
inadequate to remedy the overall situation affecting all
the other island municipalities.
The birth of Laval
Concerned with the problem, the Québec department
of municipal affairs set up an inquiry commission, on
February 7, 1964, to examine the intermunicipal
problems of the fourteen municipalities on the island.
The commission, headed by Judge Armand Sylvestre,
tabled its report in December of the same year and
recommended a complete and total merger of the
municipalities.
The city of Laval was officially incorporated under the
name of Ville de Laval, on August 6, 1965, under
Chapter 89 of the Statutes of the Province of Québec
(1965), which has since been amended a number of
times.
The creation of the city of Laval merged the thirteen
municipalities on Île Jésus as well as the municipality of
Îles-Laval into one big city.
From the time of its creation, the city of Laval became
the second largest city in the province of Québec, after
Montréal, in view of its large population of over
170,000.
Development of the city of Laval
Originally, Laval was more of a bedroom community.
Today, with a population of 350,000, the city of Laval
has become a regional centre of economic activity
equipped with a very strong commercial structure as
well as a balanced and diversified industrial structure.
And so, Laval’s economy is now in a position to provide
nearly 105,000 jobs1.
Although still young, Laval’s community has acquired all
that is necessary for a dynamic city, such as industrial
parks, shopping centres, a transit corporation, a
CEGEP, a general hospital, filtration and purification
plants, parks for recreation and relaxation, a network of
libraries, a nature centre, an arts centre, a tourist
bureau, a municipal housing bureau as well as an
economic development organization.
Since 1965, Laval has granted nearly $7 billion2 in
building permits on its territory; its housing inventory
has increased approximately 175%, while the
assessment roll has been multiplied over 25 times.
These figures bear witness to a very enviable economic
vitality.
History from Ville De Laval Website.
About SpecimensSpecimen Certificates are actual certificates that have never been issued. They were usually kept by the printers in their permanent archives as their only example of a particular certificate. Sometimes you will see a hand stamp on the certificate that says "Do not remove from file".
Specimens were also used to show prospective clients different types of certificate designs that were available. Specimen certificates are usually much scarcer than issued certificates. In fact, many times they are the only way to get a certificate for a particular company because the issued certificates were redeemed and destroyed. In a few instances, Specimen certificates we made for a company but were never used because a different design was chosen by the company.
These certificates are normally stamped "Specimen" or they have small holes spelling the word specimen. Most of the time they don't have a serial number, or they have a serial number of 00000. This is an exciting sector of the hobby that grown in popularity and realized nice appreciation in value over the past several years.