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 Replies: 17 / Views: 3,017 |
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Pillar of the Community
708 Posts |
I don't understand why, but all I hear about Canadian halves is that they are in the same boat as American halves, (only minted for collector purposes) but with one other difference: Circulation quality Canadian halves are hard to come by.
I started this topic after I read the post about the Canadian who got the huge load of 6,000-12,000 "American" halves.
So, why are Canadian halves so much harder to come by than American halves?
I would love to have a few Canadian halves in my possession.
(Sorry about the title of this topic. I wanted it to be "Why is it so hard for both, Canadians AND Americans to get Canadian Halves?" but it would not fit)
*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1374 Posts |
Well, the US is geographically large. A coin could travel several thousand miles in a car or airplane before it is passed on to the next owner. Also, the US has a lot more people. The population of California is larger than Canada. I would imagine Canadian coins would have to see many times more pockets to get the same wear as US coins. I'm not so sure about this liquidity. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3692 Posts |
It's not easy to go to the bank and ask for halves because they just don't circulate. You can get lucky, but it's generally not going happen. They don't circulate because we have trillions of commemorative quarters that serve the same purpose. The last time halves went to banks was 2002 and that was a commemorative issue that got hoarded. Today if you want halves you have to buy them from the mint by the roll at a premium, so they can circulate but you lose out so they almost never do. Plus, we don't have an amazing president on our halves.
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New Member
Canada
32 Posts |
apparently they only took out the canadian halves because in vending machines they all counted as $1 coins so they knew people would always be using 50 cent coins as loonies, so they took them out of circulation. at least thats what I heard! so vending machines killed the canadian half dollar : (
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Valued Member
Canada
306 Posts |
Crimewave - That is definitely true. Some machines will count them as loonies
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10038 Posts |
Quote:
"Why is it so hard for both, Canadians AND Americans to get Canadian Halves?" but it would not fit Good catch! But I have only ever run into one Canadian that made sure I knew he was also an American. Many times I was told I had an "American" accent (until I learned how to hide it  ). Anyway, from the time I was a kid (60s and 70s), and living relatively close to the our wonderful Northern Neighbors, I visited Canada countless times (having travelled almost from one end of Trans Canada 1 to the other also). My grandfather and I made it a point to stop at Banks and ask for Canadian half dollars. You would be surprised at how few we were able to get over the years. We only once got a roll of them. And normally, if they had any at all, it was 2 or 3. There were actually times when we were told by the tellers they did not even know Canada made half dollars since they had never seen any! I was told back then that Canadians did not use half dollars for the same reason US people did/do not - they were too bulky/heavy to carry around. And remember this was in the pre-forced-to-accept-dollar-coin days in Canada. People liked paper and used it when they had a chance. Now why the Canadians always accepted used $2.00 notes and we didn't in the States, I have no idea. This has puzzled me ever since I used to spend those pink $2.00 bills up there. |
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Pillar of the Community
 708 Posts |
Crimewave & CanadianCollector,
How is it possible for Canadian halves to be confysed for loonies? Isn't there even the slightest bit of elecrtomagnetic signature from each coin?
This is a bit off to topic, but here in America, when I was in my early 20s I was at a bingo with my grandma, and the hall had a toy crane machine that accepted only quarters, $1 and $5 bills, so I told my grandma "I've heard of some machines taking $2 bills as $5 bills, but also, some machines that that them as $1 bills, so I am going to try a $2 bill in this machine's slot and see what it takes it as" and my grandma said "No! What if it takes it as a $1 bill and you lose a dollar?" and I said, "Hey, we're at a bingo hall. This place is all about gambling" however, when I inserted the $2 bill, the machine just spit it back out at me.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
610 Posts |
This is a little off topic,but FYI Drsandman2 is close. The population of California is (approx.)30.04 million The population of Canada is (approx.)34.48 million Edited by collectall
06/07/2013 04:46 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
965 Posts |
Quote:This is a little off topic,but FYI Drsandman2 is close. The population of California is (approx.)30.04 million The population of Canada is (approx.)34.48 million I knew it was only a matter of time before someone brought this up |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1554 Posts |
 I agree, trying to find Canadian Victorian and Edwardian halves in mintstate seems to be getting more difficult! Glenn  |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3692 Posts |
Pink $2 bills? They were brown.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
965 Posts |
Quote:
Pink $2 bills? They were brown.  |
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Valued Member
Canada
306 Posts |
Fox - They are almost the same size as a loonie. As to why the machine takes them as a loonie I have no idea. I found out when a guy asked to borrow 50 cents and I jokingly tossed him a nickel half dollar.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3049 Posts |
I'm not sure if you were talking about me with respect to a Canadian picking up American Halves...
(Had an issue for the past few weeks where I couldn't log in even after several attempts) I now just used a new e-mail address to make this post... (hope with my orginal posts I didn't offend or do something wrong)
I got the large number of american halves through an estate purchase.... where the orginal owners got the coins from I really didn't ask but it seems the husband was quite the coin collector.. (albeit he kept almost 20K in coins in a small barn/shed on his farm)
With respect to canadian halves... I get those all the times.... the banks here are only happy to give me them.. I go to approximately 6 banks on a weekly basis and usually pick up anywhere between 5 - 50 canadian halves... I generally just pick through them looking for common errors and place 'em in one of my coin boxes...
But just saying.. they're still out there...
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10038 Posts |
The pic (from online) following and the ones issued before them always looked pinkish red to me...  How much squash could a Sasquatch squash if a Sasquatch would squash squash? Download and read: Grading the graders Costly TPG ineptitude and No FG Kennedy halveshttps://ln5.sync.com/dl/7ca91bdd0/w...i3b-rbj9fir2 |
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Valued Member
Canada
258 Posts |
Quote:
trying to find Canadian Victorian and Edwardian halves in mintstate seems to be getting more difficult! I agree with Glenzy on that one! Plus they're not light on the wallet  |
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Replies: 17 / Views: 3,017 |
Posted 06/06/2013 03:04 am
