Options
Collecting Canadian coins....
Dentuck
Posts: 3,820 ✭✭✭
From the May 2008 Whitman Review
COLLECTING CANADIAN COINS
When I was growing up in central New York in the 1970s and ’80s, it was fairly common to get Canadian coins in change. They passed at par with U.S. coins even though our northern neighbor’s dollar was only worth about 72¢. I imagine various factors were at work. Realistically, it would cost more than 2.8¢ in hassle and argument to refuse a Canadian dime in change at the grocery store, especially when the same dime could be just as easily spent at par next time. Living only a few hours from the friendly international border, it just made sense to accept the coins as “American” (in a generic sense) and legal tender at denomination value.
Canadian cents and “nickels” dating back to King George VI made their way regularly into New York pockets. Most silver coins by that time had long since been pulled from circulation on both sides of the border, so quarter dollars and “dimes” (the actual name of the U.S. coins; in Canada they’re ten-cent pieces) were more likely to date from 1969 forward. (I do recall the occasional 50% silver 1968 coin, recognizable from its slightly paler hue.)
Being a budding coin collector, I would usually save my Canadian coins—setting them aside in an old white-cardboard box lined with cotton—even though it would have made better financial sense to spend them. To me they were exotic, with their royal portraits and maple leaves and Canadian animals. The real treasures were the infrequently seen 1967 Dominion centennial coins, the ones with rabbits and doves, as well as any showing King George, these having a magic air of antiquity similar to that of the U.S. wheat cents that also showed up from time to time.
I admit my Canadian coins made more of an accumulation than an organized date-by-date collection. If I’d had coin folders to save them in I probably would have come close to filling in the modern cents, with a decent start on the five-cent and ten-cent coins. Eventually most of my hoard was spent, and since I moved to Atlanta I have yet to see a Canadian coin in change. But now I have what I lacked back then: Whitman Publishing has revived its classic line of blue folders for Canada’s coinage.
The revival has started with 12 different folders: one for large cents; two for small cents; five for quarters; and four for dollars. Their covers are very attractive, each emblazoned with a metallic, artfully rendered image of the coins it holds. Inside is a narrative describing the coins and their place in Canadian numismatic history—a rich and fascinating history that goes back hundreds of years, to colonial times. The folders have holes for each date as well as popular varieties.
Our friends and neighbors to the north have been creative innovators in recent decades, designing beautiful coins that reflect Canadian culture, history, and traditions. Years before our own immensely popular 50 State Quarters program, Canada debuted circulating commemorative quarters for each of its provinces. (A collector told me this joke: “Who invented the U.S. state quarter program? Answer: the Royal Canadian Mint.”) Queen Elizabeth’s portrait has also been redesigned over the years, reflecting the monarch’s youth, maturity, and graceful old age. Coins have been struck to honor the Olympic Games, the nation’s military history, and important people, places, and events. Collectors have much to learn from Canadian numismatics, and many coins to collect.
Most of the coins in my cardboard box were spent years ago, but some of them traveled with me from Syracuse to Rochester, and from Rochester down to Atlanta. This weekend I’m going to open up my safe and find that box, pull out my Canadian treasures, and start to fill the holes in my new Whitman blue folders. I look forward to the challenge and the fun of building a true collection of these wonderful coins.
The line of new Official Whitman Coin Folders for Canadian coins includes:
Large Cents
079482478-1 Large Cents, 1858–1920
Small Cents
079482479-X Small Cents, 1920–1988
079482480-3 Small Cents, 1989–
Quarters
079482481-1 25 Cents, 1870–1910
079482482-X 25 Cents, 1911–1952
079482483-8 25 Cents, 1953–1989
079482484-6 25 Cents, 1990–2000
079482485-4 25 Cents, 2001–
Dollars
079482486-2 Dollars, 1935–1952
079482487-0 Dollars, 1953–1967
079482488-9 Dollars, 1968–1984
079482489-7 Dollars, 1987–2007
COLLECTING CANADIAN COINS
When I was growing up in central New York in the 1970s and ’80s, it was fairly common to get Canadian coins in change. They passed at par with U.S. coins even though our northern neighbor’s dollar was only worth about 72¢. I imagine various factors were at work. Realistically, it would cost more than 2.8¢ in hassle and argument to refuse a Canadian dime in change at the grocery store, especially when the same dime could be just as easily spent at par next time. Living only a few hours from the friendly international border, it just made sense to accept the coins as “American” (in a generic sense) and legal tender at denomination value.
Canadian cents and “nickels” dating back to King George VI made their way regularly into New York pockets. Most silver coins by that time had long since been pulled from circulation on both sides of the border, so quarter dollars and “dimes” (the actual name of the U.S. coins; in Canada they’re ten-cent pieces) were more likely to date from 1969 forward. (I do recall the occasional 50% silver 1968 coin, recognizable from its slightly paler hue.)
Being a budding coin collector, I would usually save my Canadian coins—setting them aside in an old white-cardboard box lined with cotton—even though it would have made better financial sense to spend them. To me they were exotic, with their royal portraits and maple leaves and Canadian animals. The real treasures were the infrequently seen 1967 Dominion centennial coins, the ones with rabbits and doves, as well as any showing King George, these having a magic air of antiquity similar to that of the U.S. wheat cents that also showed up from time to time.
I admit my Canadian coins made more of an accumulation than an organized date-by-date collection. If I’d had coin folders to save them in I probably would have come close to filling in the modern cents, with a decent start on the five-cent and ten-cent coins. Eventually most of my hoard was spent, and since I moved to Atlanta I have yet to see a Canadian coin in change. But now I have what I lacked back then: Whitman Publishing has revived its classic line of blue folders for Canada’s coinage.
The revival has started with 12 different folders: one for large cents; two for small cents; five for quarters; and four for dollars. Their covers are very attractive, each emblazoned with a metallic, artfully rendered image of the coins it holds. Inside is a narrative describing the coins and their place in Canadian numismatic history—a rich and fascinating history that goes back hundreds of years, to colonial times. The folders have holes for each date as well as popular varieties.
Our friends and neighbors to the north have been creative innovators in recent decades, designing beautiful coins that reflect Canadian culture, history, and traditions. Years before our own immensely popular 50 State Quarters program, Canada debuted circulating commemorative quarters for each of its provinces. (A collector told me this joke: “Who invented the U.S. state quarter program? Answer: the Royal Canadian Mint.”) Queen Elizabeth’s portrait has also been redesigned over the years, reflecting the monarch’s youth, maturity, and graceful old age. Coins have been struck to honor the Olympic Games, the nation’s military history, and important people, places, and events. Collectors have much to learn from Canadian numismatics, and many coins to collect.
Most of the coins in my cardboard box were spent years ago, but some of them traveled with me from Syracuse to Rochester, and from Rochester down to Atlanta. This weekend I’m going to open up my safe and find that box, pull out my Canadian treasures, and start to fill the holes in my new Whitman blue folders. I look forward to the challenge and the fun of building a true collection of these wonderful coins.
The line of new Official Whitman Coin Folders for Canadian coins includes:
Large Cents
079482478-1 Large Cents, 1858–1920
Small Cents
079482479-X Small Cents, 1920–1988
079482480-3 Small Cents, 1989–
Quarters
079482481-1 25 Cents, 1870–1910
079482482-X 25 Cents, 1911–1952
079482483-8 25 Cents, 1953–1989
079482484-6 25 Cents, 1990–2000
079482485-4 25 Cents, 2001–
Dollars
079482486-2 Dollars, 1935–1952
079482487-0 Dollars, 1953–1967
079482488-9 Dollars, 1968–1984
079482489-7 Dollars, 1987–2007
0
Comments
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
<< <i>I know that somewhere in my collection I also have a few old tokens --- Ships and Commerce, etc. I'll post pictures if/when I find them! >>
Tokens???? Please do!
Life member #369 of the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association
Member of Canadian Association of Token Collectors
Collector of:
Canadian coins and pre-confederation tokens
Darkside proof/mint sets dated 1960
My Ebay
Anyone know when they will finally hit the streets?
And why just introduce those folders? What about nickels, dimes, halves, and Twoonies? I can't stand the Uni-Safe folders...........
- - Dave
http://bit.ly/bxi7py
Thanks!
- - Dave
Dennis - What percentage of your sales of these albums do you expect to be to collectors living in the USA? I ask because I'm wondering about the viability of albums for other countries.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.