Coins, Canada, and (brief) Confusion
Yesterday morning, I went to Dunkin’ Donuts for coffee. This is not particularly remarkable except that I paid in cash. As the total was $2.06, I ended up with a handful of coins in return for my bills. Not wanting to hold up the line while I put my change away, I dumped it in my pocket and headed to the office. The coins were then transferred to a pile on my desk to be dealt with later.
Several hours later, as I went to pack up and head home, I reached for the pile of change and noticed this:
Given its size, I assumed it was a quarter. In fact, at first glance, I thought it was one of those State Quarters that everyone was collecting circa 2000.* Internal dialogue continued as follows:
“Ooh, a new State Quarter I haven’t seen! Which state is this? … Canada? We made a state quarter for Canada? Man, we are dicks.“
Then I flipped the suspect coin over and saw Queen Elizabeth’s smiling face.
The coin was not dickish, just foreign. Mystery solved, Encyclopedia Brown.
In other numismatic news, I got a Sacagawea dollar at the post office – bringing the daily count of useless coins to two.
*Yes, I collected State Quarters. I was hardcore. As every complete collection contained a state quarter for each state from each mint, my beloved uncle in DC and I devised a plan. As I was closer geographically to the Denver mint, I’d collect the “D” quarters that had not yet circulated to the East Coast. I’d then swap them for the Philly (“P”) quarters he’d saved for me. Genius. Alas, the collection suffered a severe setback in 2003 when I left to study abroad (and start collecting Euros).
Posted on June 15, 2011, in Miscellany and tagged canada, change, coins, collecting, collections, money, numismatism, quarters, State Quarters, US Mint. Bookmark the permalink. 8 Comments.
Bye Bye, Bitters 
I have a small container on our desk at home that contains paperclips, staples and assorted foreign currency. I have about 97c in Canadian coins (quarters, nickles, dimes, pennies), a 5 centime piece from France (I have never been to Europe) and a Korean coin I presumably picked up in Hawaii.
Hey, at least the Sacajawea dollar is legal tender in the US 🙂
I have a mug full of random coins, too. I was fascinated by them as a kid.
What is it with the Post Office and Sacagawea dollars? Did the Post Office get them at a deep discount? I have a bunch of them (courtesy of the PO), but no where to spend them. They’re kind of the misunderstood coin, aren’t they?
The lady at the PO actually appologized for giving it to me. Ha. I like the IDEA of dollar coins… but they don’t seem to have caught on at all.
lol, great post Helena! I wouldn’t call that Canadian quarter totally useless though, right now it’s worth more money than an American quarter. 😉
I know – how crazy is that?! When I lived in upstate New York, we used them interchangeably with American quarters.
“Man, we are dicks!” Great line. 🙂
My brother and his friends used to play poker with Sacagawea dollars — felt like they were playing with gold lucre.
I must say I enjoy using dollar (and two-dollar) coins after my years living in the Commonwealth. The only thing that bothers me is that here in Australia, the two-dollar coins are *smaller* than the one-dollar ones. What’s up with that?!
The idea of dollar & 2 dollar coins is spot-on, the problem is that people aren’t used to them and so many things (vending machines, namely) don’t know what to do with them.
When I lived in France, I remember hating the 2 cent coins. THOSE were pretty freaking worthless.