1988 Canada Dollar

There are a lot of things we learned from our Canadian neighbors. How to make a golden dollar is what we will focus on here, maybe hockey another day.

It has been 30 years of the golden Canadian dollar, previously they used a 100% nickel dollar but that was getting expensive. Switching to a Aureate-Bronze Plated Nickel saved some money but also made the coin more distinguishable in the circulating coins.

United States of America having issues with dollar coins tried again in 2000 with somewhat of a success. Making the coin golden made it better to accept among consumers and businesses. Unfortunately we still prefer dollar bills since they are lighter and traditional.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 1 Dollar / Canada
Year: 1988
Mintage: 138,893,539
Metal: Aureate-Bronze Plated Nickel: 91.5% Nickel, 8.5% Bronze
Value: $1.00 in Very-Fine (although exchange rate as of January 30, 2017 has it $0.74)

Do you have a dollar from Canada and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you

1987 Canada Dollar

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1987 saw the first Loonie issued and it was totally an accident. Okay not totally an accident the Canadian government did redesign the dollar coin to make it lighter, smaller, eleven-sided, and a different color. What they did not intend was to change the voyageur reverse of the previous year. Something happened to the master dies and they disappeared in transit. To thwart possible counterfeiters a new reverse design was used, the majestic loon.

The most common of all the loonies they flooded into circulation. They circulated along with the Canadian dollar bill until the dollar bill was withdrawn in June of 1989. Since then dozens of commemorative designs were issued for circulation and collectors.

Currently the new 2012 Canadian dollars have laser etching and a new composition causing troubles in the vending machine industry. Still globally the Canada dollar is doing great and is still higher than the American dollar.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 1 Dollar / Canada
Year: 1987
Mintage: 205,405,000
Metal: Aureate-Bronze Plated Nickel: 91.5% Nickel, 8.5% Bronze
Value: $1.03 in Very-Fine

Do you have a dollar from Canada and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you

1989 Canadian Dollar

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The loonie is a successful dollar coin from Canada. Granted when you spend half of your time wearing bulky clothes and mittens then having big change is great. The bikini clad beach goers of California do not seem equipped to have tons of dollars in large coins jingling around their barely there outfits. (My knowledge of Cali and Canada all stems from sitcoms.)

It looks very much like the U.S. versions in size and color although the shape and metal is different. Maybe because I spend too much time solving engineering efficiency problems but I do not see how this coin is better than a bill for the user. Yes it is many times more efficient for the producer but not the end user.

Even in this tough economy I have seen youngsters hit the ATM then buy something and refuse the change without even counting it. Today I noticed that tip jars have increased everywhere and that most people keep the $5 and up bills and then drop the rest of the change into the tip jars. Crumbs is the last place I saw this happen five times in a row.

Does America want change? Apparently not if the change is too heavy. (sounds political but it is not)

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 1 Dollar / Canada
Year: 1989
Mintage: 184,773,902
Metal: Aureate-Bronze Plated Nickel: 91.5% Nickel, 8.5% Bronze
Value: $1.03 in Very-Fine

P.S. Sorry Canadian Loonie for not focusing on you but I will next time. This one was common and not much to say.

Do you have a dollar from Canada and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you

Loonie Ten Dollars

Do you have a coin or currency and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

Back in April I got a new ten dollar bill in my change on the same day I got a 1987 Canadian dollar coin. Since then I've got lots of questions on a possible error on the ten dollar bill.

Look at the note carefully this is what a new crisp ten dollar bill looks like.

Now the question of error on the new ten dollar bill.
It is a myth people asked why does the 2006 note have a 2004 date, is that an error?
NO!

When a new bill has a design change they change the date to what ever year the change was made. If the design change is minor like a signature or adding color then a letter is added to the date, so 2004 turns to 2004A.

No ten dollar bill errors have been verified.

As for the Loonie coin it was the first Loonie coin in Canada's dollar coin series. There is another common 1987 Canadian dollar but it is 10x rarer. It is also an 11 sided coin, I think the cashier who gave it to me confused it with a U.S. golden dollar.

Here are the values of those pictured above...
Type / Country: 10 dollar bill / United States
Year: 2004A
Mintage: 51,200,000
Value: $10.00 in all grades unless it has been professional certified.

Type / Country: 1 dollar-Loon / Canada
Year: 1987
Mintage: 205,405,000
Metal: Aureate-Bronze Plated Nickel
Value: $2.25 in MS-63(this one is about $1.25 because it is worn)

Do you have a coin or bill/note and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.