News from May 2010
Save the penny or leave the penny?
Friday, May 28, 2010
A growing number of economists and bankers are urging the Canadian government to give up the penny, as the U.K. gave up the farthing and, later, the halfpenny.
In April 2010, the standing Senate committee on national finance announced it would begin a study on the costs and benefits of the penny, including the possibility of eliminating it.
By some estimates, the production and use of the penny represents hundreds of millions of dollars every year in direct costs to taxpayers and lost productivity [...] there would be costs associated with eliminating the penny, as well.
- Senator Irving Gerstein
Both Australia and New Zealand removed their one- and two-cent coins in the early 1990s. New Zealand went a step further in 2006 and demonetized the five-cent piece, and Australia appears ready to follow suit.
At the time of Vance's letter, the British farthing was legal tender up to one shilling — 12 pence or 1/20 of a pound. Legally, you could pass as many as 48 farthings, although Vance's letter suggests you were unlikely to succeed.
In Canada, the Currency Act says:
A payment in coins … is a legal tender for no more than … twenty-five cents if the denomination is one cent.
No one is legally obligated to accept more than 25 pennies at a time.
In 1953, it was estimated that there were 600 million farthings in existence — about 12 for every Briton at the time.
By comparison, the Desjardins Group estimates that there were 20 billion Canadian pennies — 600 for every one of us — in pockets, jars, fountains and piggy banks in 2007.
According to a Royal Canadian Mint survey released in October 2007, 63 per cent of small retailers said they were in favour of getting rid of the penny, citing efficiency as their prime motivation.
By comparison, 42 per cent of consumers said they would support abolishing the penny, while 33 per cent said they would oppose the move. One-quarter of respondents said they were neutral.
Consumers who said Canada should get rid of the penny said they considered the coins an annoyance as well as dirty, smelly and germ ridden. People who wanted to keep the coin said prices would go up without the penny and said it's a part of our heritage.
Near the end of its circulation, it cost the Royal Mint a halfpenny to produce a farthing. Issuing a Canadian penny costs somewhere between 0.8 cents and a nickel, depending on whose numbers you believe.
Source : CBC News
No glut of fake toonies: RCMP
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
RCMP and the Royal Canadian Mint on April were playing down a report on a Toronto TV station that had some wondering if a rash of counterfeit toonies was circulating in the city.
The station reported Tuesday that it had obtained a couple of counterfeit two-dollar coins following a tip from a downtown Toronto merchant who said he gets them by the truckload.
The station then showed what it said was a fake toonie side-by-side with a real one, noting that the Queen's head was larger on the fake.
The problem with that, according to the mint, is that millions of legitimate toonies have the large head design. So merely having such a toonie is not enough to identify a fake.
Since 2003, the mint has produced more than 148 million toonies. The Mounties say they've seized only 4,230 fakes in the last four years.
The first-ever incident of known toonie counterfeiting took place in 2006, when the RCMP and Quebec police broke up a counterfeiting ring near Montreal that was manufacturing high-quality loonies and toonies.
Mint spokesman Alex Reeves said the mint encounters fake Canadian coins very rarely. Attempts to counterfeit Canadian currency traditionally focus on banknotes, where the payoff for the counterfeiter is much greater.
Bank of Canada Statistics
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
The 2009 Annual Report from the Bank of Canada was announced on March 31, 2010. Here's some statistics :
- 1.8 billion bank notes in circulation at year-end 2009;
- $55.5 billion is the total value of these bak notes;
- 45 counterfeit bank notes detected par million notes in circulation.
Coin Collector's 2011 Red Book is now available!
Monday, May 3, 2010
The 2011 Red Book for United States coins value is avalaible since April 1st.
Treasure trove found in Winnipeg ceiling
Monday, May 3, 2010
A Winnipeg man has uncovered a cache of old currency stashed in the basement ceiling of his home during a renovation project.
Fred Murray bought a bungalow in the city's Elmwood neighbourhood last spring and recently decided to tackle a basement project, spurred on by the federal government's home renovation tax credit.
When he encountered trouble feeding an electrical wire through the ceiling, he started to remove the panels.
That's when he found the cash and coins packed in cloth bags, pill bottles and tobacco cans.
The oldest coin I found was from 1859. It was a penny.
- Fred Murray
The find included Canadian money and foreign currency from Germany, China and the United States. There was also a large number of foreign stamps in paper envelopes.
He took his find to local collectors but said there wasn't much interest, so he plans to send everything to an auction house in Eastern Canada.
It's all getting shipped off. I have no intentions of keeping it, and no one here in the city seems to be serious about it. So I am shipping it off to Quebec and from there it goes to Toronto. And then it will end up in an auction.
- Fred Murray
Murray has no idea what kind of payment he might get from the sale of the collection but he plans to reinvest it in his renovation project — where it came from in the first place.
Source : CBC>
News archives
