What are the keys in collecting Canadian Coins?

coinguy89

I want to fill up albums of:

I want to get these out of circulation, decent looking circulated specimens.

1 cent
5 cents
10 cents

I want to get these in beautiful mint state condition.

25 cents
1 dollar coins
2 dollar coins

bohica268

How far back do you want to go? QEII is mostly inexpensive. Before HRH tho you'd better have some money.

coinguy89

Im not sure how far back I want to go.

newsman

I have a couple of decent-looking circulated George VI key date 10 cent coins for sale if you need them. Just let me know.

bohica268

It's not likely you'll get Large Cents, Silver 5, 10 and 25 Cent coins in change.

Small Cents from the 1930's, 5 Cents from the 1940's, 10 and 25 Cents from the late 60's may be available.
Loonies and two-nies circulate freely now as might some of the later date Nickel Dollar coins but anything silver is gone and will have to be bought.

What do you have so far?

coinguy89

A whole bunch of random dates. Im just starting this out for fun and don't wanna spend too much money on it.

bohica268

One way to keep it fun is trade for coins you need. If you've got your stuff in albums already then your "need" list is easy to figure out. A list of your extras by denomination and date can be assembled easily on a LOTUS 123 or EXCEL spreadsheet. Copy and paste makes it simple to list on this or other forums.

canadiancoinguy

rough circulation odds (from my own roll and change searching):

George V cent (1920-36): never seen one in circulation in the last 10 years.
George VI cent (1937-52, usually later dates): 1:1000
QE II cent 1952-59: 1:75

1945 and earlier 5 cents (except 1937-40): never seen one in circulation in the last 10 years.
George VI 5 cents 1937-40,46-50 (12-sided): 1:4000
George VI, QE II steel 5 cents 1951-54: 1:7000+
QE II 5 cents 1955-62 (12-sided): 1:1000
1967 commemerative 5c: never seen one in circulation in the last 10 years.

Any silver 10c (-1967 and the 68 silver): 1:2500-3000
Any silver 25c (-1967 and the 68 silver): 1:10000+ (too easy to spot)

Fortunately, most of this stuff is cheap, so you won't have to worry about digging through change, but even a 1940-date 1c set is tough, it took me 3 years to complete it!

Basically, with patience, you can assemble from circulation:
1c 1940-date
5c 1960-date (besides 1970, should be okay.)
10c 1968-date (see above)
25c 1968-date (1970,83 are tougher, 1991 is impossible)
$1 1987-date (1992 loon is the tougher one here, a couple months would do)
$2 1996-date (twoonies are relatively easy 1998 excepted, ~1:100)

You might find it expensive to buy UNC nickel 25c relative to face value. If you'd like, you can have some EF-UNC nickel dollars for face and p+p.

bohica268

In a PM I pushed the idea of borrowing or buying a Krause Standard Catalog of World Coins or Charlton's Standard Catalog of Canadian Coins. A less expensive alternative would be Krause Coin Prices magazine. Once or twice a year they do Canadian coins from KM # 1. Arranged by denomination and KM # it lists mintage numbers, weights, metallic compositions, variety information and "retail" prices in 5 or 6 grades.
The issue I have is MAY 2004. You might look around for a copy. At $4.25 it even beats the $10 price of a Charltons.

A NOTE: Prices listed in the Charlton Standard Catalog of Canadian Coins are in Canadian dollars.

coinguy89

<< <i>In a PM I pushed the idea of borrowing or buying a Krause Standard Catalog of World Coins or Charlton's Standard Catalog of Canadian Coins. A less expensive alternative would be Krause Coin Prices magazine. Once or twice a year they do Canadian coins from KM # 1. Arranged by denomination and KM # it lists mintage numbers, weights, metallic compositions, variety information and "retail" prices in 5 or 6 grades.
The issue I have is MAY 2004. You might look around for a copy. At $4.25 it even beats the $10 price of a Charltons.

A NOTE: Prices listed in the Charlton Standard Catalog of Canadian Coins are in Canadian dollars. >>



I already am subscribed to the magazine, I just wasn't sure what to make out of it. I couldn't really tell what was a key and what wasn't. I don't know if thats prices in canadian money or american.

bohica268

The prices listed are in $US.

Using Krause Coin Prices magazine take a look at mintage numbers for the 1920 to 1936 ONE CENT denomination. The dates 1922, 1923, 1924 and 1925 are under two million. Check the prices listed for those dates; they are quite a bit higher in all grades than the majority of the series running 1920 to 1936.

In the same date series the 1926, 1927, 1930 and 1931 might be considered semi-key dates. Mintages are slightly higher and prices are much lower than the keys but still above the rest.