Gerard

I have never heard of Swastika. A simple Google search indicates that it is about 1600 kms from here.

God knows why anyone would name a town that. Seeing where it is, it's in a region that is not heavily populated with lots of heavy brush, Moose and Bears.

Incidentally, did you see my post replying to your question about the new Queen effigies in the "Canadian Cents" thread?

Aidan Work

Gerard,yes I did.They are very nice photos.Have you been collecting those commemorative 1c.,5c.,10c,25c.,50c,$1,& $2 coins from your change? We do not have any circulating commemorative coins,but Aussie issues them quite often as does Great Britain,& countries such as South Africa,Ireland,Sri Lanka,& India,to name a few.

Aidan.

Gerard

I acquire the commemorative stuff from local dealers. I normally wait a year or two before I buy the commemorative stuff. In 90% of the cases, they can be had for considerably less than original issue price. In some rare cases, it could cost more.

For example the Queen mum commemorative dollar originally sold for about $50. It sold out quickly and now commands upwards of $300. This is quite unusual in Canada. While most NCLT coins are issued in the 20 - 30k range, there is little demand for the coins outside of a few circles. In most cases it's due to the exagerrated price they charge for the coins. There is an increase interest from overseas (primarily South-East Asia, Germany and Japan). The American market is increasing exponentially as coins with mintages with less than 10k can be had for less than $1000 sometime much less. This is unheard of in the US.

The Royal Canadian mint dealt with a terrible backlash a few years ago when it was discovered that they dumped Silver Canadian Maple Leafs into the US at about half the original issue price to gain interest. As you can imagine, the dealer community in Canada flipped.

Late last year the RCM announced that in order to sustain a viable demand in the secondary market they will only issue mint sets in the year they were minted. All unsold inventory would be destroyed and melted. The Canadian coin community is waiting for word in the next few weeks on the melting of any unsold 2004 inventory.

Aidan Work

I am surprised that the RCM would destroy the unsold stock.I don't know why the RCM shouldn't follow in the footsteps of Ireland & split up the sets & release the coins into circulation.The Irish did this in 1986.

Aidan.

Gerard

Hi Aidan;

See this link for the full story;

http://www.canadiancoinnews.ca/previous/mar8_05.html