# Canadian Quarter Suspected of Espionage **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 11, 2007, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-quarter-suspected-of-espionage/403656 "2007-05-11T05:54:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-quarter-suspected-of-espionage/403656/1 "2007-05-11T05:54:22Z")
Here’s a [news story](http://www.katu.com/news/national/7369096.html)to entertain the Canadians on the board: > [@](#): > > An odd-looking Canadian coin with a bright red flower was the culprit behind a U.S. Defense Department false espionage warning earlier this year about mysterious coin-like objects with radio frequency transmitters, The Associated Press has learned. Heh. I realize it isn’t American currency, but I would have thought they would have made themselves familiar with Canadian currency since it is likely to show up with some frequency. When we go to the U.S. next week, maybe we’ll bring some Canadian Tire money to use - think we can get par? 😃 (I Snopesed the story, and didn’t get a hit, so if this is a hoax, please let me know.) ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-quarter-suspected-of-espionage/403656/2 "2007-05-11T06:38:07Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] Here’s a [news story](http://www.katu.com/news/national/7369096.html)to entertain the Canadians on the board: Heh. I realize it isn’t American currency, but I would have thought they would have made themselves familiar with Canadian currency since it is likely to show up with some frequency. When we go to the U.S. next week, maybe we’ll bring some Canadian Tire money to use - think we can get par? 😃 (I Snopesed the story, and didn’t get a hit, so if this is a hoax, please let me know.) [/QUOTE] Not sure about the quarter part , but the one I did hear about was the twooney, seems the middle part was replaced by some nefarious types. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-quarter-suspected-of-espionage/403656/3 "2007-05-11T06:43:53Z")
You probably heard toonie (yes, toonie) based on the fact that it was the ‘middle’ of the coin, which was separate from the edges – but in this case, it was the red middle of the poppy quarter they were referring to. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-quarter-suspected-of-espionage/403656/4 "2007-05-11T10:07:23Z")
I’m tempted to bring my poppy quarter to work today and aim it at people, holding another quarter to my ear as a receiver. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-quarter-suspected-of-espionage/403656/5 "2007-05-11T13:01:03Z")
This is an update of this older thread, which was revived last week with the info you cite. If it hadn’t been, I don’t think I would have realized that it was the same story: > **[Spy transmitters hidden in Canadian coins?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=403447)** > > …and from today’s WTF? File, we have the following report: Spy transmitters in Canadian coins: Report The report gives few details. It seems to me that maybe one could embed an RFID chip in one of the larger Canadian coins. RFID chips are passive... ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-quarter-suspected-of-espionage/403656/6 "2007-05-11T14:25:12Z")
Y’know, some of us really WANT to counter the stereotype that Americans walk around in a total fog with regards to anything beyond what they routinely encounter in their own street block (sometimes at best as much as halfway across their own state). But we’re not being helped… And I love the way they thought it was a “transmitter” – because they saw a piece of holofilm over the poppy and the first thought was “nanotechnology”??? Dude, word don’t mean what U thik it means. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-quarter-suspected-of-espionage/403656/7 "2007-05-11T15:06:49Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] This is an update of this older thread, which was revived last week with the info you cite. If it hadn’t been, I don’t think I would have realized that it was the same story: > **[Spy transmitters hidden in Canadian coins?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=403447)** > > …and from today’s WTF? File, we have the following report: Spy transmitters in Canadian coins: Report The report gives few details. It seems to me that maybe one could embed an RFID chip in one of the larger Canadian coins. RFID chips are passive... [/QUOTE] Oops - how did I miss that two-pager? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-quarter-suspected-of-espionage/403656/8 "2007-05-11T15:16:52Z")
Well, the difference between the two countries is now made clear: Canadians put the loon on their dollar coin. Americans hire him as a DoD contractor. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-quarter-suspected-of-espionage/403656/9 "2007-05-11T23:52:36Z")
I like the idea of coins with bright red flowers on them. 🙂 In the U.K., ours are all boringly silver or copper (in colour, I mean, not the _actual_ metal used). ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-quarter-suspected-of-espionage/403656/10 "2007-05-12T00:16:31Z")
Just to clarify the situation: A couple years a go, the Canadian mint had a run of quarters commemorating Remembrance Day, having an indented section in the centre with hand-painted poppy (as in, “In Flanders Fields…” poppy). As I recall (I didn’t live in Canada at the time), they were distributed through Tim Hortons. At any rate, they’re completely awesome but extremely rare – I’ve seen exactly one in two semesters up here. I could see an especially paranoid contractor getting worked up about them. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-quarter-suspected-of-espionage/403656/11 "2007-05-12T00:30:29Z")
[QUOTE=straight man] Just to clarify the situation: A couple years a go, the Canadian mint had a run of quarters commemorating Remembrance Day, having an indented section in the centre with hand-painted poppy (as in, “In Flanders Fields…” poppy). As I recall (I didn’t live in Canada at the time), they were distributed through Tim Hortons. At any rate, they’re completely awesome but extremely rare – I’ve seen exactly one in two semesters up here. I could see an especially paranoid contractor getting worked up about them. [/QUOTE] They’re not _that_ rare: the Mint made thirty million of them, after all. I occaisionally get one in my change. ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-quarter-suspected-of-espionage/403656/12 "2007-05-12T00:37:35Z")
Homeland Insecurity? ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-quarter-suspected-of-espionage/403656/13 "2007-05-12T14:45:44Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] Canadians put the loon on their dollar coin [/QUOTE] We can only put dead presidents on our coins, not live ones. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-quarter-suspected-of-espionage/403656/14 "2007-05-12T16:05:12Z")
That’s silly. Why would Canadians want to spy on us? We’re not very interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-quarter-suspected-of-espionage/403656/15 "2007-05-12T17:20:18Z")
Well, while the people filing the reports should’ve known better (isn’t that what they get PAID for?), _I_ certainly didn’t know about this quarter. And I speak as someone who has umpteen different sealed sets of coins from the Royal Canadian Mint, has been on the tour more times than she can count, and would normally be all over something that cool looking. Which of course means that I’m going on vacation to Ottawa and buying stuff until I get one. Hey, any excuse to go somewhere cool. And have poutine. I love poutine. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-quarter-suspected-of-espionage/403656/16 "2007-05-12T18:08:01Z")
If you think the Poppy Quarter is a good spying device, wait’ll you see the [breast cancer quarter](http://toronto.metblogs.com/archives/images/2006/03/quarter_p.jpg). It features a backscatter X-Ray so you can see women nekkid!