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 Replies: 35 / Views: 6,176 |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2518 Posts |
When I went to the bank last Monday they said they might have 50 cent pieces but could't go check now. So yesterday I went back and when they checked apparently they have none. They did say they don't send their rolled coins away, so I hope I have better luck with their rolls than TD. Most of TD rolls are only steel coins and barely any older ones at all. So I asked them whether they have voyageur dollars and silver coins. The teller said she didn't know what voyageurs were so I said dollars minted 1987 and before (didn't have a picture). She said the bank has it but it's in the place only the manager can get. They were very fast, and she came back with 12 voyageur dollars and 5 20-for-20 coins. I never expected voyageurs to be THAT heavy until I handled one. Now I've gotten used to handling them (didn't handle anything else last night and this morning), I feel other coins are abnormally light...  I think she thought I wanted 20-for-20 when I said silver coins. The 20-for-20 was a Christmas reindeer. Very nice frosted reindeer but the design didn't really stand out to me. I asked if they have the iceberg and whale (eye candy for me), but they don't have those. I thought 20-for-20s were bigger, but apparently they're only about the size of a quarter. So I came back with 12 voyageur dollars with me. Got them all in face value.   They're in pretty good condition too. I wonder if they've seen much circulation? If what I've heard about this coin not getting circulated much due to its size and weight, then it explains why there's so few scratches on it and no tarnish as I can see.   Anyway, my first voyageur dollars! I was hoping to be able to find silver at face value, but these were really nice already  All the responses from my friends were, "They're huge/gigantic!" I don't blame them. Imagine having 5 or 6 of these in your wallet at a given time... In Indonesia we have a joke, because our coins are so dense and practically worth nothing (you can barely get anything with Rp 1000, and those are the biggest, heaviest coins), that you're going to have a hole in your wallet/purse/pocket (just by carrying them around, since you don't use them anyway if you do have them). |
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Moderator
 Australia
16817 Posts |
Quote:
I never expected voyageurs to be THAT heavy until I handled one. Now I've gotten used to handling them (didn't handle anything else last night and this morning), I feel other coins are abnormally light... Now you know why Voyageurs were never really popular as circulation coins...  Quote:
I thought 20-for-20s were bigger, but apparently they're only about the size of a quarter. Well, the Mint would never make any money on the things if they actually sold a $20 face value coin for $20 with anywhere near $20 worth of silver in it. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Valued Member
Canada
184 Posts |
Nice score with the voyager dollars slurexe97! I would love getting a bunch of those at face value....and they're in really great condition too!
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
2518 Posts |
I guess people just keep them at home since it would be pretty annoying to carry around all day.
I felt other coins are abnormally light when I inspected a friend's loonie that has a not-so-yellow yellow colour (it turned out to be a 2003W). I thought it was hollow plastic when I picked it up.
I have no idea about grading, but since they've been circulated they can't be MS, AU at best, right?
So the Mint is profiting +$10 when we buy 20-for-20s. None of the designs so far really appeal to me except for the iceberg and whale. But I'm not buying things online, I'm quite against it myself. I'll wait if some bank I go to will have it then I'll buy it.
By the way, I've decided to use the 1969 Voyageur at the top right as a pocket piece, because I have 2 of them and they're not the oldest year. It's also got some spots on it which I don't know what. Lighter coloured than the metal, but not reflective of light.
Plus theses coins are big, they wouldn't get lost too easily. Nickel is a pretty hard metal too.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3692 Posts |
I've found that the dollars in the 1980s had such extremely low reliefs to the point that they could easily be counterfeited with a 5 ton press. They look cheaply produced.
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Moderator
Canada
10456 Posts |
Easy to complete a date set at face value in uncirculated grades (MS-60 to MS-63). Almost impossible to complete a date set in gem grades (MS-65 to MS-66). Low mintages, and dealers tossing them into ice cream buckets or plastic pails for years, has generated some grade-rarities. Tom Becker wrote a short article on this series, calling them a sleeper set in nice grades, due to these coins being the last, large heavy Canadian coins, and the last of the voyageur series. That article, and online discussions with Tom at CCRS years ago (whom I don't know where he is now), got me hooked in this series. Probably one of the best Canadian series to play with large coins, as most dealers are happy to let you paw through their nickel dollar bucket, and have that thrill of the hunt for varieties and nice grades. Tom's article is here: http://www.canadiancoin.com/coin_ar...r+-+Part+III"Discovery follows discovery, each both raising and answering questions, each ending a long search, and each providing the new instruments for a new search." -- J. Robert OppenheimerContent of this post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses...0/deed.en_USMy eBay store
Edited by SPP-Ottawa
04/07/2014 09:59 am
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3049 Posts |
I LOVE these coins! Getting them from the bank at face and putting together really nice looking sets... are super fun. Most people that get these coins hold onto them in some place for years then thinking they're worth something take them to a coin dealer who usually just says "take 'em to the bank and get face value for them".... I see so many of these coins in such GREAT condition it's awesome.... I'm always surprised to see these sell on ebay for so much given that you can get 'em from the bank for face... but given that these coins really did have such a short run I'm holding on to EVERY one that comes my way.. and I always keep a 1976 in my pocket |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
5324 Posts |
Anyone knows the bullion value or nickel value of these coins?
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3733 Posts |
Yes, there is about .25 cents worth of metal in the nickel dollars..
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2518 Posts |
Still much lower than face. I collect them for the sake of collecting them.
The coin that's been my pocket piece for a couple of days already has visible-without-magnification wear on it, believe or not.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1980 Posts |
you probably have the nickle dollars I have been pushing into circulation lol
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2518 Posts |
Are these coins still legal tender? I didn't know that. Out of mint money usually stops being legal tender quite fast in Indonesia.
The thing about the wear is that I didn't notice the wear before it became my pocket piece, even under 40x magnification.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3049 Posts |
yup.. they're still legal tender.. banks will still take them at face.. and occasionally I'll slip one or two into paying for items... or I will use it as a tip for the guy at the gas station or what have you.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
997 Posts |
I have been at a couple LCS's in Canada and the US where, for providing change on cash purchases, they use "odd" coins or bills that have no real value beyond face but are rarely seen in circulation. I got a couple low grade Voyageur dollars or C$1 and C$2 bills in change from a shop in Toronto. Here at home I have received Ike's, Kennedy halves or $2 bills, even low grade Wheat cents and dateless IHN's from LCS's. This is a great use for these bills and coins, maybe it will help start a kid on collecting or prompt use of these elsewhere to help start someone else. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3692 Posts |
Wow, it must be very hard to save money in Indonesia; I didn't know that.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1581 Posts |
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Easy to complete a date set at face value in uncirculated grades (MS-60 to MS-63). Almost impossible to complete a date set in gem grades (MS-65 to MS-66).
Amazing. Practically everything is MS, but the mint gave up trying to make them well after the switch to nickel? Edited by dialog_gvf
04/10/2014 11:35 pm
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Replies: 35 / Views: 6,176 |
Posted 04/06/2014 7:22 pm
