1912 Boc $5 Dilemma

The market has created a distinction between the Hoard coins and non hoard coins, and it appears to me it favors the hoard coins. Just look at the fact that TPG companies list the designation on hoard graded coins. I have 1912 gold that I mention on this site awhile ago the in a red leatherette that is in a capsule similar to the hoard coins issued from The Royal Mint with a COA stating it 1 of the first 8,000 minted. I picked it up for $40 over bullion. I'll post pictures shortly. Have tried to verify with The Royal Mint when it was issued and if they did, the certificate looks legit.

Interesting, the certificate from the (British) Royal Mint. Did you acquire this prior to RCM releasing the hoard? And is this to suggest only 8,000 were minted in 1912, the balance of 165,680 in 1913/1914? Or was that portion minted in England?

With certainty, I believe the gold coins held by BofC formed a portion of Canada's gold reserves during WW2, gold reserves being much more significant in past times than they are to Canada today. Reading various theories is rather fascinating although it appears neither Britian nor Canadian govts have formally disclosed any real facts in support. One theory is due to fear of German takeover, UK's gold reserves were all shipped to Canada, others suggest it was used to finance war efforts by buying of arms from the US. Regardless I'd be surprised if the valuable gold hoard just sat undisturbed in BofCs vault throughout it's entire history and it's also possible a portion was sold and later bought back. Because we know nothing more other than the hoard was suddenly revealed, makes me think there's more to the story.

Thanks for the link. I don't recall where I read it, might have been Striking Impressions by JA Haxby but if I recall correctly it was said the reason the Finance Dept was given possession of the gold coins was due to payment of taxes owed by the newly formed Cdn Royal Mint.

But the fact that so often our Canadian history is blurred into virtually nothingness is something that's always irritated me. I refuse to believe that for 100 years all the coins sat forgotten in dusty old sacks in the back corner of a vault but at the same time, I doubt any more of their history will ever be known.

Adding to the unknown, the timing of Carney's posting in the UK and the hoard release always stuck me as sort of odd....aside from the questionable manner of the actual sale of the hoard.

Purelywasted, interesting is that by Collector67's photo of the COA that The Royal Mint (England) was selling the Canadian gold hoard coins, as well as the Royal Canadian Mint. (I'm assuming RCM's COA was issued by RCM.). That's something I certainly wasn't aware of. Was anyone?

Odd though, those stats don't quite support RCM's statement "the Government of Canada recovered the majority of circulating $5 and $10 coins and withheld remaining stocks from circulation.......".

https://goccf.com/t/134544&whichpage=183

Just doing a little research...of interest from what I gather from various sources it appears at the time WW1 broke out in 1914 Canada, it eliminated the requirement of a " gold standard" meaning up until then banks were required to balance credit granted with holdings of gold reserves to safeguard against insolvency. It makes sense to me that banks' gold reserves were the gold coins There was not yet a Central Bank and why various banks still printed their own money during that same period of time (banknotes issued by banks would also be considered "credit" because the bank would be required to redeem them). While $5 and $10 seems like peanuts, back then 1912-1914 gold coins were never really circulated in the form of circulated coin, in the way we'd think of today. Rather it appears it was a simplified method of assigning a value as opposed to raw nuggets.

At that point in 1914, the government gave an alternative to banks, that of buying Dominion of Canada notes instead of holding gold. It was suggested this was done to prevent bank panic by enabling banks to lend more money, particularly to support wartime efforts. This meant that gold(coins) were essentially freed-up and I'd expect much of it quickly flowed out of the country, particularly to elsewhere where gold reserve requirements remained in place - especially if the value of the gold coins exceeded f/v.

In support of this, reading between the lines I can't help but wonder that Canada was considered a minor player as we were but a colony within the British Commonwealth, yet we had valuable gold resources. As I recall WW1 began high German inflation because their currency was not adequately backed by gold, therefore adequate gold holdings would have been important to, for example "our mother country". So if my sources are reliable and my interpretation correct, I'd expect a sizeable amount of Cdn gold coins got melted after leaving our borders.