How Rare Are Canada Small Cent Rolls From The 1940's?

I think AgcoinAU pointed this out on another thread but I find it remarkable that there are 4 advertisements for rolls of 40's Canadian cent rolls smacked dab in the middle of this conversation




No way to tell but I doubt DD and hanging varieties will become unrecognized over time esp. on MS cents. The coin market may crash due to unforeseen reasons but I doubt even that.

Even with a complete crash of our economic and social systems I am covered as I could melt the copper and fashion it into spear/arrow heads.

Any original rolls from 40s or so would be cool to adquire with a nice premium.

Kind of the mess with the BOC gold coins of 1912 to 1914

I am not sure what you mean by a mess for the BOC coins. There was a definite drop in value for MS62 or less to somewhere near melt, but the MS 63 & higher seem to be doing ok. Definitely a lower price, but not sure I would call it "destroyed".

If anything it serves as a good warning to collectors about coins that were not widely circulated, but had a significant mintage compared to the collector population. Without any confirmed reports of destruction/unrecoverable loss, the risk is always present for a large hoard will come forward and lower a price that should never have been as high as it was. As the available population of coins was only temporarily limited.

I would consider a mess to be a bunch of 1911 silver dollars becoming available.

I don't think I had any kind of special access, but I purchased 1 x 1914 $5 coin first day, 3 months later I contacted the mint and purchased 1 x $5 1912 & 1 x $5 1914. The $10 1913 & 1914 were still available 1 year later at issue price. I highly doubt they would have restricted anyone from purchasing available coins several months later. Initially there was a 1 coin per type/date limit, months later I don't think that was the case with many coins still available for purchase.

I think they showed great restraint and fairness by only releasing about ~12% of the total number of coins available. If everything was released at auction, we would only be looking at melt for all but a few coins. I don't know everything about the Landon sale

In terms of no returns, that is the same as a sight unseen sale, I had no issues with that as I was aware of the policy ahead of time, the product was offered below current market rates and I trusted their word when they said an effort had been made to only pick better examples.

The value drop is to be expected, but given the mintage figures, the only reason prices were as high as they were was because the market did not have access to sufficient supplies. With the 1911, it has a mintage of 2. If they had decided to re-release the coin using original dates and dies, that is what I would consider unfair, maybe there is a better example of that. My understanding is that some countries have done this. I only used the 1911 example because I could not think of a Canadian coin with a 100% known low mintage, that was not melted down (eg. 1921 5 cent, 50 cent).

I have seen the video a few times, you might have missed the part where he said he was not there for the final sort, which implies that he did not have special access to pick coins when they were shipped out. He did act as a consultant to the mint on how to sell the coins. I have not read/heard anywhere (from a published source) that he or anyone received first choice, other than the Canadian gov't for archival purposes. He did say he helped broker half the coins for the mint, mainly to US wholesalers/distributors. Maybe there is a darker side to the story, but I did not see it in the video.

Are you implying that a government should not dispose of assets in the most profitable way? If they had a surplus of metal desks, should they only sell it for scrap because it might lower the market price for used desks? I think they made a smart fiscal choice by seeking a higher return.

We are probably getting a bit off topic for this thread, some of this should probably go to the BOC thread.

I know the dealer you speak of. I suspect he was heavily consulted in how to distribute the hoard, perhaps his payment terms were a little unconventional? Maybe he can't say much, because he signed a confidentiality agreement with the RCM... a wink tells me a lot, like exactly what he is not saying.

Also, if you read the CN Journal, in the two-part article interview with Brian Cornwall, you will read that Brian spent a couple months here in Ottawa, sorting through the entire hoard to determine which were to be melted, and which were to be sold.