Canada: Nice Piece of Change

The Royal Canadian Mint had never seen anything like this. On Jan. 2, post-office trucks rolled up to Ottawa’s turreted mint building with 125 bags containing nearly 2,000,000 pleading letters. Within a week the mail reached 6,000,000 letters. And who was doing most of the writing? U.S. coin collectors.

An acute coin shortage at home has forced the U.S. Treasury to stop minting “proof sets” of U.S. coins.* To discourage collecting, the U.S. has even decided to emboss all coins minted in the first half of 1965 with last year’s date. So U.S. numismatists have turned to Canada for this year’s issue.

The effect was a little like a run on a country bank. The Canadians fear a coin shortage of their own, and the Ottawa mint is Canada’s only coin-making facility. As the mail piled up, Finance Minister Walter L. Gordon issued a hurried public statement declaring the sales of 1965 sets halted. The first day’s orders alone were enough for the whole year. Mint Master Norval A. Parker turned one of the mint’s cafeterias into a workroom, hired 20 extra workers to return the letters to their senders.

Even so, the Canadians should still make themselves a nice piece of change. Last year the mint sold 1,750,000 coin sets, containing a penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar and silver dollar. To make it worthwhile, the Canadians charged $3 for the $1.91 value. This year they will sell 2,000,000 sets at a marked-up price of $4. Because so many buyers are Americans, it will mean a windfall in U.S. currency.

U.S. collectors would consider the Canadian coin sets a bargain even at a higher price. The value of a 1965 set is expected to jump to $8 as soon as it hits the open market. And as a speculative investment, coins can hardly be beat: a 1950 U.S. proof set, which originally cost $2.10, is now worth a cool $200.

* Minted by special procedures to ensure perfection. The U.S. Mint gives proof sets a double stamping for a more distinct impression; the Canadians stamp only once but handle the coins especially carefully, making sure that no coin touches another.