From the Vault of the Currency Museum By Jamie Horkulak The bank of Canada currency Museum is located in downtown Ottawa, and is a must-see for any paper money collector. I was lucky enough to visit it on the delegate trip to Ottawa for the CNA convention. The entrance is situated in the middle of a modern enclosed courtyard. Once you enter, the first display is Gallery 1, which examines the concept of money and demonstrates how it had been interpreted and represented differently by various objects around the world. Gallery 2 displays the development of coinage in the west , … [Read more...]

The Devil’s Metal; Nickel Coins of the Third Reich By: Marc Bink The other day I was listening to a German radio station on the internet, and they had a phone-in trivia contest running. They asked five questions, and the caller had to get at least three right. Then they asked the zinger, which had to be answered correctly. I could have won this one, but I wasn’t prepared to rack up a long distance bill and the prize didn’t justify the airfare. The question was, “What was the weight of a 1 pfennig coin?” The answer of course (2 grams, in case anyone wanted to know) wasn’t correctly guessed, … [Read more...]

Solid Radar Notes By: Jamie Horkulak One of the hottest areas in Canadian paper money collecting right now has to be “solid radars”, that is, where the serial number consists of all the same digit. Values of these continue to rise, as they have for the last 2 decades. To calculate these values, one must consider a number of factors. Not only are they quite scarce, with only 9 notes being solids out of 10 million made, their shear aesthetics drive collectors into a bidding frenzy. To add yet another factor, special consideration must be placed on the solid 9’s serial number. Any note … [Read more...]

Lasqueti Mint - Minting Your Own Money By: Roger C. Paulen, with contributions from Daniel Rubin and Howard Gilbey The traditions of numismatics and the laws of Canada decree that fine metal bullion coins may be issued and sold free of any tax, provided that the purity of the metal, the weight of the coin and a maker's trademark are shown on each coin's face. Under this premise, the Lasqueti Mint was born, with coins made by hand, using nineteenth century technology. The Lasqueti Mint is a private mint located on Lasqueti Isle. The principals of the mint are Tolling Jennings, a numismatist … [Read more...]

BIG and UGLY: A Dodekadrachm of the Derroneans by Terence Cheesman One of the most interesting and the most frustrating factors in the study of early Greek coinage is that solid facts are exceedingly difficult to find. When you examine long-standing assumptions about certain aspects of coinages, you often discover these assumptions have the solidity of a bowl of Jell-O. Oh well, it’s all part of the fun of collecting. So I was under no illusions when I bought a rather large coin of the Derroneans. Naturally, I decided that I had to find out as much about the coinage as I could. We … [Read more...]