I just picked up a collection of several hundred canadian coins mostly 5, 10, and 25 cents. I was struck by how many had the faces defaced. The marks are for the most part on the newer coins as i found none on anything before george VII. Finding an X on the face is common but many times it was a single line through the face. one 10 cent had an X on both face and back that looked as if it were eched with acid. Was this common in Canada? Is it province related? Most of these coins are only worth bullion value as they are lower grades but a few would have been mint state grades if it were not for the damage. Any information would be helpful. Thanks
I've never seen a Canadian coin defaced, and I see them all the time. I do believe it's illegal to do (up here), but I'm not 100% sure of that.
I am also not aware of any kind of tradition or custom that causes Canadian coins to be defaced with a line or a "x". Can you post pictures?
That is correct Section 11(1) of the Currency Act states that "no person shall, except in accordance with a licence granted by the Minister (Minister of Finance), melt down, break up or use otherwise than as currency any coin that is current and legal tender in Canada." Furthermore, Section 456 of the Criminal Code of Canada makes it a criminal offence to deface circulation coins: "Every one who: (a)defaces a current coin, or (b)utters a current coin that has been defaced, is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction." The offence is not dependent on fraudulent intent. -Royal Canadian Mint
I have seen a few 10¢ and 25¢ coins in circulation that were similarly defaced, usually it appears done with a nail or something. My guess is that someone, or a few someones deface the monarch as some anti-monarchist protest or something. Most likely they are done by Quebecois, likely Quebecois nationalists. At any rate it is not even professionally done, it is a homegrown effort, and rather futile.
I have an 1873 Newfoundland ten cent in fine with deliberate scratches on obverse and an 1876h Newfoundland ten cent in vf with deliberate scratches on obverse. Without the marks these coins book for $450. To bad
On a similar note, I once saw a Napoleonic France coin on eBay that had scratched off all references to "emperor" Napoleon, including the removal of his laurel crown and a big ol' scratch across his throat! I guess someone was an anti-imperialist. Oddly enough, the coin went for more then an undamaged coin of the same type (which is why I didn't win it). I missed out on a real piece of history there providing the scratches weren't contemporary, of course, but I'll never know now.
I believe the scratched Canadian pieces are actually vending machine related from a probe that checks to make sure it isn't a washer.
I've seen a lot of canadian dimes (about 1968-1974) with a little scrape on the reverse. But I've never seen any words or x's on coins.
If you take the extreme view,p;hujyxz9iaaaaaaaaaaa8][iozk09999999999999999 Sorry about that, had to go wait on a customer and my cat decided to do some posting in my absence. (While she was trying to get to my lunch.) If you take the extreme view, couldn't wear, which will eventually wipe out the monarch's portrait, be considered defacing the coin? (Pun NOT intended.)
Probably not. We don't have such laws here in DE, but I guess that even in CA such "defacing" does not refer to normal wear. Christian
I'm sure they didn't mean for it to but the way the statute is written it COULD be stretched to that ridiculous extreme unless "deface" is defined somewhere else in the statute and it wasn't posted. Took me a couple minutes to realize that when you said DE and CA you did not mean Delaware and California.
