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Are Canadian cents now effectively worthless?
291fifth
Posts: 23,948 ✭✭✭✭✭
I have read that Canadian cents are both no longer used and no longer redeemable in Canada. Is this true? (Obviously, this question refers to cents that have no numismatic value.)
All glory is fleeting.
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They seem to circulate well in northern USA.
That may be the problem. I wonder if they are being dumped into US markets to get rid of them. Here in the Detroit area I still see quite a few, but not as many as I used to.
According to this site http://www.cba.ca/phasing-out-the-penny-in-canada you can still spend them in Canada, although the banks are no longer receiving them from the mint. Banks accept them for deposit if they are in rolls (I did this last year)
Pacific Northwest Numismatic Association
Canadian coins are common in Cleveland area.
Was thinking it would be fun to try and assemble sets from change.
They still accept them up here and you can turn them into the banks. For cash purchases, the stores round up or down for the 5 cents. If by credit card, it's still the exact price. Many people are holding onto them, but the straight copper or bronze ones (pre-'96) are worth much more scrap than a penny.
Can they melt them in Canada, unlike in the U.S.? I started collecting them as a kid & have most of them (except the keys). I figure it would be fun to still try & put together a full set these days.
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The law in Canada is kind of ambiguous. Section 11 of the Currency Act states "No person shall, except in accordance with a licence granted by the Minister, melt down, break up or use otherwise than as currency any coin that is current and legal tender in Canada."
It's that "current and legal tender" part that is the cause of confusion. Because Section 9 of that same Act states "The Governor in Council may, by order, call in coins of any date and denomination... A coin that has been called in is not current.". I assume (but am not 100% certain) that this is what in fact has happened to 1 cent coins.
So it seems that 1 cent coins are still legal tender, but no longer current; therefore, since they are no longer both "current and legal tender", it seems they are no longer protected by Section 11 and you no longer need a licence to melt them.
Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"
Apparently I have been awarded one DPOTD.
Coinstar just paid nicely on several BU rolls from the 1960s. Not a single penny was ejected back into the return tray.
There you go again, sending stuff over to Coinstar right out from under me!
GotTheBug said: "The keys aren't all that expensive in circulated grades."
Haven't checked prices lately, to be honest with you, but need multiple copies of most between 1922-1926 for my & boys' sets, so put them on the back-burner at some point in the past......
If you were a local or even somebody that I would definitely see at an area coin show two or three times a year, I'd gladly give them to you. But we seems to be 600 miles apart. Now, this pile of wheats and Canadian cents was just a minor car wreck on somebody's numismatic Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Small consolation, in the end they did buy some Sierra Nevada Torpedo.
Had to look up "Sierra Nevada Torpedo", but sounds like you made a good trade!
Very hoppy, high on the bitterness scale while in the chops, pleasing in the old gullet and then easy on the stomach. The second through eighth go down easier than the first. High ABV. Pretty good stuff for a larger scale producer.
Kinda like how the Royal Canadian Mint used to be high quality, not just dumb stuff (issuing 9,000 new type coins per annum).
I just cashed in several hundred dollars worth on my last trip to Canada, mid July... They are still redeemable
Justin Meunier
Boardwalk Numismatics
jdmern:
Wow!! Several Hundred dollars worth of just cents?! Or other denominations as well? How close are you to the border (I wish I was closer to it), and how long had you been collecting them?
They will always be legal tender! Just like any other Canadian currency since 1858 is still legal tender.
You will always be able to exchange them for other denomination.
Being "called in" does not mean that they are no longer valid. It simply means these are no longer distributed by the Canadian Mint or made for circulation.
However, it is illegal to destroy Canadian currency. But, who knows what the copper bar was after someone has them melted. Key dates are 1921 to 1925, plus a few varieties which one needs to recognize from the regular coins.
DBS:
I am in Connecticut, but I go up to Montreal a couple of times a year (It's not a bad 5 1/2 hour drive)... As part of a large world collection I purchased, there was almost $1500 face in Canadian, plus I had a couple hundred more from another deal... Cashed in all of the rolled coin (cents, nickels, dimes, quarters) in at a TD bank with no issues... Used the dollars and $2 as spending money, but was surprised that most of the merchants would not accept the old nickel dollars...
Justin Meunier
Boardwalk Numismatics
There used to be articles in the U.S. coin newspapers about how Canadian BANKS would not accept the nickel dollars either, especially the nickel commemoratives. For a couple years, these articles were an occasional filler in CW, NN and WCN. Articles appeared maybe late 1980s, early 1990s.
The banks don't HAVE to accept the old nickel dollar coins?
IDK. Used to be quite a few stories in the coin newspapers. I think the nickel versions of the Winnipeg dollar, 1982 Confederation/ Constitution dollar, a few others figured prominently. The 1982 dollar in nickel was struck in much larger quantities than usual.
As I said, all Canadian currency is legal tender.
I have never heard before that a bank refused the nickel dollars, Truly a first one. Same goes with the 50 cent Nickel pieces.
There are collectors for these, they usually do very high grades or errors only.
But, as said above, I say again:
all Canadian currency from 1858 to now is legal tender, and as far as I am aware, will always be so.
However, being legal tender and lawful money, does not necessarily mean that said monies have to be accepted by everybody for payment of a debt. The Canadian government is the only entity that must accept all Canadian legal tender in any amount for the payment of a debt and for the purpose of exchanging older monies for new money. This is where the banks come in as Agents for the Mint and the Bank of Canada.
YQQ What's your take on the 1976 $5 and $10 Olympic coins?
The Olympic '76 coins are essentially scrap silver price ... there were just so many of them struck that anyone who wanted or wants one already has them. You can buy them for a little over scrap at any medium or higher coin show, even the proofs.
I read somewhere that the cents were demonetized, which would imply that if you didn't turn them in by a certain date, they're just scrap metal or collectors items
Again, NO Canadian money starting in 1858 to this date has ever been demonetized.Perhaps pulled out of circulation.
So if you find a sack full of old pennies, lets say 1930 and back to 1858, I would be a very happy buyer.
These large $5 and $10, or the Calgary coins are simply Bullion. There are a few with a so called "error". They carry a nice premium. IMO, most of these errors where "ordered" by someone and then gone the route of the smoke break through the back door, or purposely made by the mint to create keep interest up in the coins by collectors.
Just all my opinion...
These Olympic series are a typical "buy the content, not the packaging, and never mind the grade!"
As far as legal tender is concerned??? there is this famous court case between Revenue Canada our tax people at the time,
and a well known Vancouver dealer who wanted to pay his taxes with these coins and RevCan refused to accept them. This did go to court and things were settled then. If I remember right the ruling was in favor of the Dealer as the coins were produced by the RCM for Canada and hence are legal currency. Shortly after, the RCM started to get the GOV to change the currency laws and created the NCLT section. (Non-circulating -legal tender). By doing so they made sure that for example, even a 1000 Dollar coin (not existing yet ) would be considered legal tender, but nobody has to accept it as payment for a debt. The mint gets around all this by using Gold for these coins. Wondering what would happen if Gold would fall below FV?
Thanks YQQ!
Well now that is disappointing to me ... bought a slabbed 2011 Canada 1c - MS66 - Copper plated steel for what its worth.
Not too long ago I took $4 in rolled Canadian cents to a local bank here in the US.
DPOTD-3
'Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery'
CU #3245 B.N.A. #428
Don
you took them to the bank in the US? Was is perhaps a subsidiary of a Canadian bank operating in the US?
usually and as a general norm chartered banks seldom accept foreign coinage.
Of course, there are always exceptions to rules. Like if you are a "heavy hidder" customer doing zillions with them they would gladly please you.
This is true and half true, Only Canadian banknotes printed after 1935 by the Bank of Canada, as per the 1934 Bank of Canada Act are redeemable currency.
All tokens, shinplasters, private mint or chartered bank notes are NOT redeemable.
Only Mint issued Coinage and Bank of Canada issued currency paper money that goes for;
All Pennies, Half Dollar 50 Cent pieces, Large Nickel Dollars, even Bank of Canada $1.00, $2.00 and $1000.00 Banknotes are still redeemable and banks have to accept them, businesses do not. I have unloaded hundreds of dollars of Canadian Nickel Dollars the bank begrudgingly has to accept knowing full well it will cost them more to ship those dollars back to Ottawa than they are actually worth
I am not certain of the limitation date on denomination coin redeemable currency, However the majority of coinage pre 1968 has a silver content higher than face value and most pre 1930s coinage is worth a big premium and no one should ever consider redeeming at face.
As for Canadian Pennies some better dates and variety years to look out for are ;
Low Mintage High Premium: 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927 ( I sell 8 coin sets of these with 1930,31 on eBay for $90)
Better Variety dates: the holy grail 1936 Dot (an impossible find), 1948, 1949, 1953, 1955, 1965, 1983, 1985....
Montreal Olympic Coins we purchase and scrap at melt. However if you have better proof sets in the wood leather display cases or the large full set holders they can demand a nice premium on eBay.
to be noted, The mint also recently released a $20 for $20 (rip off) Silver coin at just under 8 grams of pure silver with a face value of $20. The banks have to redeem these as currency and most dealers who buy these buy them under face knowing full well they can redeem them at full, we inform people the contemporary Royal Canadian Mint is a terrible Con and they are best to redeem their coins for $20 at the bank, we no longer purchase these.
a 1935 Bank of Canada $25.00 Silver Jubilee George V & Queen Mary Bank note can still be redeemed for $25.00 at the bank....
if you're a few cheese curds short of a Poutine.
all around collector of many fine things
I wonder if the bank clerk would get into trouble for excepting them. Often times they just go back out into the market for change.
This is true and half true, Only Canadian banknotes printed after 1935 by the Bank of Canada, as per the 1934 Bank of Canada Act are redeemable currency.
Coinpro,
my info clearly says that Canadian money, any type, has never been demonetized and is valid tender to pay depts with in Canada. It is true, nobody must accept any kind of money, even in good faith.Can you please quote the section in the Currency law?
It also, my info says, is not important by whom the notes are printed, as long as the printing took place by an autoryzed by the Bank of Canada printer.
interesting , as most Canadians assume that all Canadian money is Valid tender, and all Canadian stamps are also Valid.
thanks
Not a Canadian Bank. Key Bank, Canadian cents circulate at par here.
DPOTD-3
'Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery'
CU #3245 B.N.A. #428
Don
They were rolled. I'm sure they were just given to someone else.
DPOTD-3
'Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery'
CU #3245 B.N.A. #428
Don