Do Canadians Not Use Money?

I wound up with a bunch of coins from 35+ different countries and the ones from Canada are, at least to me, unusual. I have to magnify some of them beyond 10x or so to find any blemishes. Sometimes if the light strikes them just right you can see some wear, but nothing like any other country's that I've seen. Mostly quarters and dimes, but there's a few 1 Cent and nickels. OK, I confess. I didn't want to misspell whatever the plural for penny is.

I think I have 2 questions. Is there a reason I can't see imperfections on Canadian coins, or are they just that resilient?

Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

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In my coin roll hunt, yes, many years seem to hold up very well, much more so than other years. The worst seem to be when the date is on the obverse as opposed to the reverse. Too much blank field which damages quite easily. I can’t say the RCM is the best in their field and, I hate them for discontinuing the Penny as well as the destruction of old bills when the banks get a hold of them but, they do seem to be quite innovative in their designs.

 

Certainly better than our copper-coated zinc cents.

 

Canada made a lot of their coins (post silver) including quarters out of 100% nickel, which is very durable. So yes, they withstand the test of time better that their U.S. counterparts.

 

Almost no nickel in Canadian quarters since 1999. Or dimes. Only 25% nickel in the 5 cent coin, like US from 1982-2001. Mostly copper now or steel.
I have about 40 pounds of pre 1982 nickels taken from circulation near Syracuse. And a nice collection for me
The Canadian government has been removing the old nickels from circulation and not so many now.

 

No, they don't use money. They barter with back-bacon, touques and donuts.

 

Almost makes ya feel like Sergeant Preston should be near about......

 

Harder metals with lower relief. It makes a difference.

 

I am not Canadian/ but live in Canada.
I hardly ever use plastic/ use the currency and small change (coins) for most purchases.
I have noted the opposite/ I collect AV coinage. Even my Roman/ Greek coins are better quality then change coins in my pocket. Most loonies ($1) coins are worn so bad, can hardly make out date. When coins where in silver/ dates/ legends where worn out in 5 years of circulation.
Its really amazing that there are so many 500 yr old gold coins still in mint state quality/ considering gold is very soft.
John

 

Of course they do.

 

Gold wears very well ... just look at male wedding rings that have been on a finger for 50 years.

 

I have a 24K gold chain that I have worn often for the past 20 years and it still looks like new. I had an idiot neighbor, actually 2 of them, tell me that "24K gold is no good". I did not even bother to reply to such a statement.

 

I have had "numismatists" say same thing about medieval AV coins (which are 999.9) pure. I have many of these, and they are pretty well struck/ designed.....

 

One other thing about gold coins is that most of them never did circulate much, in the sense we use it, resulting in very high grade old gold coins. The high value of gold meant that you just didn't take it down to the market place and buy a loaf of bread or leg of mutton. From ancient times, through medieval and even into early modern times, gold would mostly sit in safe places as reserve, to be used only for very large purchases such as castles or kings' ransoms. Even in the US, many gold coins, especially the larger ones, sat in vaults and safes as backing for paper or other credit. Smaller gold, such as $5 did circulate because they made a handy sum to give for a week's pay, but still did not see as much daily action as smaller silver and copper. Even large silver often served this reserve use, which is why it is not impossible to find relatively high grade bust halves and silver dollars. Until the price of silver went up in 1963, government vaults were full of millions of silver Morgans, many uncirculated. I have read that the main use for $1 gold, and to some extent $2.50 gold, was for gifts and jewelry rather than actual circulation.

 

Too bad you can't go back and accurately weigh it when it was new. I would love to see how much gold has been lost over the years. After maybe 25 years (many years ago, I don't remember exactly how long it was) we had to get gold added to my wife's rings to keep them from wearing through, but they are much thinner to begin with than a man's band. I think they are 18k.

 

I, too, noticed the durability of the Canadian steel and 100% nickel coins, although their silver coins wore about on par with ours. I have no experience with their newer coins.

 

C'mon, @GDJMSP show the pic of your gold pocket piece...