A large advertisement, two columns wide and the length of the page, appeared on the front page of The Bathurst Times of 10 August 1867, declaring that people should 'Wake up! Wake up!! Don't believe in puffing. Come to Collins & Co., Where you will get everything Cheaper for Cash than any other house in town.' 'Puffing' was a contemporary term for the exaggerated advertising of specials and sales that were commonly used by Drapers to encourage shoppers to believe that their shop was full of bargains.

The advertisement closes with 'Groceries, Wines, Spirits, & Clothing of Every Description, Cheaper and Better Than any other house in the Western District, At Collins and Co., Monster Clothing Bazzar, William Street, Bathurst.' Items advertised included:

'American Tobacco only 4s. Per. Lb.'
'Best Jams 10s. 6d. Per doz.'
'Potted Salmon 1s. 6d. Per tin'.

Aside from this advertisement, almost nothing has been discovered about this company during the 2005 survey of trade token issuing companies. Collins and Co. issued their penny token (struck by Thomas Stokes of Melbourne) in 1864. The business was not listed in the Bathurst Directory for 1862, so it is likely to have been established between 1862 and 1864. The only listing for a person by the name of Collins in Bathurst in Samson's National Directory of New South Wales for 1867 was for G.A. Collins of Morissett Street, suggesting that the firm had a brief existence, possibly of only 4 years.

References:
Wilson, E.G., (1862). The Directory of the town of Bathurst, New South Wales for the year 1862 (containing a street, commercial, professional and miscellaneous directory; also an almanac, diary and a sketch map of the town).
Advertisement, The Bathurst Times, 10 August 1867, p.1.
Samson's National Directory of New South Wales for 1867-1868.

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