Monte Francis Tram Pass

[artsmith]

Advertising token and Tram Pass issued by Monte Francis Noted House For Piano and Organs. Colchester, England. Brass. 30mm.  Bracteate. Probably issued for the opening of the Colchester Tram.

[Figleaf]

I guess this is a tram pass for a tramway line from Colchester, but what is the destination? Google maps gives no relevant hits for Monte Francis or Fete and ChatGPT has no information either, but it knows the destination of the first tramway line from Colchester was Hythe.

Peter

[artsmith]

Monte Francis was the piano store owner. I think the fete was a celebration of the opening of the tram line. He gave out a free pass to ride the tram and advertise his store.



Art

[JohnI]

The firm of Monte Francis was established in Colchester in 1897. They supplied music and musical instruments. They also provided a piano tuning service, which seems to be what they specialised in later. In 1904 they opened a branch at Clacton on Sea. They moved to 131 High Street in 1947 and advertised in 1950.

The Colchester annual fete appears to have been popular and appears to have been held by different organisations over the years. In 1909 the GER was advertising special tickets for what it called the Colchester Pageant for any distance upto 120 miles from Colchester.

In 1914 it was reported that Colchester was issuing tram tickets with a money lender's advertisement on the back - these could have been paper tickets. Other councils are known to have issued celluloid tokens with company's names on them. The production of these tokens was paid for by the company and they were for issue by the company (i.e. the company obtained them every time it bulk purchased tickets).

If the Colchester token was for the grand opening of the tramway, it would probably have stated something to this effect on it, especially as Colchester had annual fetes. So I suspect that the Colchester tokens were used similar to the advertising celluloid tokens but for the Colchester annual fetes. This would give it a slightly later issue date.


Regards;


John

[Figleaf]

Thank you gentlemen! I am purring with satisfaction. It sounds like an early variant on today's P+R: leave your bicycle at home. Take a free tram ride to the centre to attend. I think this info is very worthy of including on the WoT page. I could do it, but you know more about it.

Fête is french for festivities, festival or party.

Peter

[FosseWay]

Fête is french for festivities, festival or party.

And it is used in English, with or without the circumflex, in a similar but more restricted meaning: an outdoor celebration involving street food stalls, coconut shies, brass bands and such.