Do The New 2012 Loonies Tarnish Less?

The new ones are quite bad. I'm already seeing new loonies that look like old 1987 loonies.

Yes I see these coins being less durable.

Coatings or thin plating over a steel or zinc core does not make a durable finish for something like a coin. They are cheap.

I can't help but wonder if it is wise to save the "good" example of these crappy coins for future collector value.

Their lake of quality will mean they will either be pulled from circulation earlier, or self destruct.

I have found five year old coins in my gravel driveway that are 50% disintegrated, half moon shaped.

The American "Zincolns" seem to be made slightly better, and hold up better underground. (My opinion from metal detecting experiences.)

It's ironic when the point of converting your currency from bills to coins was to save money on replacing money that wears out.

the cheap factor has a phsycological effect aswell. way back in the day coins had weight, quality and character, and in your hand you could 'feel' the value. the new stuff just feels 'cheap'.

the new pennies are more pink than 'copper' and feel like a kids tiddlee-wink chip or a plastic bingo marker, the new loonies are so bright yellow out of the roll you can spot them from across the room (not a good tone of yellow either, its kind of hard on the eyes - IMO).

dont even get me started on the twoonies... the rims are so badly formed it looks like they were made with a hammer and anvil...

i realize these are an massively mass produced item but come on, even the chinese counterfieters would make better quality.

and how can the mint expect other nations to contract their coins to us when we put out such crap?

take some pride for crying out loud (sorry - rant /off)

I have a couple of the new loonies and twoonies that I have have placede in 2x2's they all have black marks that where not there when I placed them in, and now every one I get in my change seems to be tarnished, hope they get rid of them soon.

If brass is that bad, why don't they just use bronze plating over steel then?

I understand somewhat if the mint is trying to make less valuable coins like the nickels cheaper to make, but seriously, the loonie and toonie are worth WAY more in face value than they cost to make already. Would it kill the mint to make our larger denomination coins out of nicer metals and better quality? Even if it costs more to make them, they are worth more in circulation. A less than 1 year old loonie shouldn't look worse than a 20+ year old nickel! Our newer quarters and nickels are plated steel and they seem to stand up very well so making a plated coin stand up doesn't seem to be impossible.

They should look into revamping all coins into silver-plated at least. The steel quarters: I've already seen rusted examples of quarters that have sat out in the rain and elements and to be honest I thought they were slugs before I picked them up.

FYI: /most/ brass is 88% CU and 12% Zn. There are MANY alloy variations out there for different applications. There's a magazine dedicated to brass. I'll try to get the name later on.

I know what you mean, but there is nothing wrong with that in theory. You WANT people to desire your money.
If your $20 coin goes up in value, great, your "dollar" just became stronger.

When individual earns, our invests in this currency, they should be able to do what they please with it.
You want to burn a $100 bill, you should be able to do so, although people will look at you funny. (It's illegal though these days to burn a federal note etc, which is just a tool for transactions, rather actual money. Same thing as a Debit card.)

Liquidating silver by melting is just one of many ways to trade, the metal is not destroyed.

The federal reserve is supposed to have their own silver, etc from taxes etc.

The cost of re-manufacturing coins would be less then it is now, because they don't have to spend on disposable coins like zinc and steel.

Part of the problem of having people "scoop" up silver coins is, you have two bordering countries (USA and Canada)with money of similar shape and character. The currencies get mixed up and yes would leak money to other countries that way.

Isolate the currency by shape. Make it a thicker coin, or square/rectangle etc. That will help keep it from getting deposited in a foreign countries daily money stream.

If someone finds some foreign silver on their land, good for them. They can take it a do as they wish with it.

The idea is to have foreign funds enter your country, through direct purchase of your silver.
We don't want to loose it in pocket change as we have in the past.

If we need to easy the transition to silver, we could make a bi-metal coin like the Toonie.

Think how nice a slug of silver surrounded by a ring of copper would be for a $20 coin.

I drool over the though of a Gold-Titanium alloyed $100 coin. AuTi. The same technology is used in Dentistry.
I think it's around 90% gold, 10% titanium.

Or stick to a more traditional scheme with a solid Copper $20, Silver $50 and a solid Gold $1000.