Checks, Discount, & Special Purpose Tokens - General

Lot 4794    SESSION 17 (9.30AM FRIDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER)    Checks, Discount, & Special Purpose Tokens - General Is

Estimate $500
Bid at live.noble.com.au

PEES BROS, The Non Pareil Cycle Co., Palmerston N. & Wellington, 1/6 discount token, struck in aluminium (35mm) (G.-; TMR.-). Very fine.

Unlisted in Grant or Roker.

The following courtesy of Palmerston North City Council, regarding the premises occupied by Pees Brothers at 19-21 Coleman Place - The Arcade:

"....The next known occupant of the building was the Nonpareil Cycle & Motor Co - the word 'Nonpareil' meaning 'a person or thing having no equal.' According to CT WN24/199, Eric Stanley Pees, co-owner of the Nonpareil Cycle & Motor Co, leased this building from 1 November 1911 until 29 April 1921 (the existing 15-year lease was set to end on 30 April 1921.

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand, Vol 6, published in 1908, provided a description of the firm. However, at the time Nonpareil occupied the neighbouring building on the western boundary of this building. The aforementioned article reads: "The Nonpareil Cycle and Motor Company (ES Pees and CS Pees): The Square, Palmerston North. Branch business at Wellington and Newtown.

This firm, which now stands well to the front in the Wellington province, was established in Ghuznee Street, Wellington, in the year 1902, and the Newtown branch was opened in 1905.

In November 1906, the firm bought out the retail cycle business of Messrs J.B.Clarkson and Company, Limited, of Palmerston North, and removed the headquarters of the firm to that town. The premises are amongst the finest in the town; they have 2,000 square feet of floor space, are fitted up and appointed in the most up-to-date and attractive manner, and comprise a commodious showroom (capable of displaying 100 machines), a suite of offices, and large workrooms.

This firm make a fine display in their showrooms of the Nonpareil cycle (their own manufacture), also the Centaur and Premier cycles, for which they are agents. A large stock of accessories is kept, and repairing is also done on the premises; in which latter connection the firm have a good reputation for reliable and trustworthy workmanship.

The Wellington and Newtown branch shops are also spacious and up-to-date, and both carry a fine stock of bicycles, etc. The firm do an extensive trade in all parts of the North Island, and employ twenty-five persons. Agencies have been established in Foxton, Otaki, and Shannon."

The article also includes biographies on the owners, London-born brothers Eric Stanley Pees (born 1882) and Charles Sydney Pees (born 1880). E.S.Pees emigrated to New Zealand aged 16 (c1898), being joined by C.S.Pees, an engineering draftsman, in 1902. They established their business in Wellington in 1906, before acquiring the Palmerston North branch and turning it into their head office, with E.S.Pees moving to the town. C.S.Pees remained in Wellington, where he managed the Wellington branch.

The firm held its official opening in this building on the evening of 17 November 1911, during which, Mr E.S.Pees described their new and commodious brick business premises, as one of the largest (premises) of their kind in Australasia. In the course of the evening, the Mayor, Mr J.A.Nash, complimented Pees on acquiring such fine premises. The newspaper did not comment on Nash's former association with the building.

There is no corresponding entry on the CT for the other end of The Arcade, although that lease covers only the land (it was on a Borough Council reserve). The 1911-16 Wises Directories list other firms with links to J.A.Nash & Co as occupying that building. However, Nonpareil occupied it as part of what then became 7,500 square feet of showroom arcade, from mid-February 1914. The 1920-22 Directories state that Nonpareil Motor Co had its motor garage there.

The firm probably remained in this building until its lease ran out in 1921, and its departure marked the end of the two buildings being operated together as an arcade.