After reading javaman’sPit thread about coinage reform, I began to wonder about the Canadian fifty-cent coin. On the street these are very rare, and I haven’t seen one in circulation since the mid-nineties.
I remember reading somewhere that they were in common use on the east coast, and the 25-cent coin was much less prominent there. I don’t know how true this is; it would be interesting to find out.
I’ve decided to bring this coin back from the dead, by using it in everyday life.
I went to the TD Canada Trust branch in the Clarica Centre on Friday and asked whether they had any rolls of fifty-cent coins or could order them. The lady behind the couinter was somewhat confused by my question; possibly she’d never seen a fifty-cent coin. At any rate, they did not have any.
I am a coin dealer. I don’t know if what I am about to suggest will help, but it would here in the US.
Look in your Yellow Pages(are they yellow in Canada?) under coin dealers, call around, you may find some who would be glad to sell you quantities of post-1968 halves(non-silver) for face value.
Tell them an American coin dealer suggested it. That may/or may not help.
I’m from St. John’s and, although I haven’t lived there in a while, I visit at least once a year and I have never received a 50 cent coin in my change. I’ve never received any in Halifax, either.
I live in Ottawa. It would be interesting to pick up a roll from the mint and see peoples reactions as I put them in circulation. I wonder how many people would refuse them …
etc.
We pass out hundreds of halves in our coin shop(in the US) every week. Some people like it, some people don’t.
This is not just a Canadian problem. Many people in the US haven’t seen a half in the last 25 years. Most people just don’t care. Half dollars aren’t important in everyday life.
Egaj mensoj same pensas, chu ne, Sunspaco? I went to a local TD a few months ago with the same intent. The nice lady at Information said that they did not have any 50c pieces at all, and had no way of ordering them. But she did not mention either the Mint or coin dealers.
Of course, I used to live in Winnipeg, and went there again in November for the NDP general convention, but this hadn’t occurred to me then. Oh well, maybe next time I’m in Ottawa (in May, for the National Youth Summit on Sustainable Urban Transit).
What’s really sad is that I have the same problem with Sackies here in the U.S. I like them and try to use them, but often the bank dosen’t have any, I usually ask. If you do run down a Canadian half dollar coin, I’d like to see it.
I’m from PEI, and have never seen a 50-cent coin ever used in a purchase nor received one as change. I even worked cash at several drugstores, so i’ve seen a fair amount of cash from that area.
I’m in Ottawa now as well, and on my next trip downtown I will be sure to pick up a roll or two as well. Thanks for the nifty idea!
I like the idea. I’d like to get a bunch from a store, but if you get them from a coin-dealer, they would surely want to make a profit on them as opposed to face-value… which is why it would be nice to get some from a bank. I would buy a couple hundred and spend them, just to get them into circulation.
I, too, wonder what there min “bulk-purchase” quantity is.
About five years ago when I was a cashier, one of my customers used a fifty cent coin to pay for a purchase (a 30 cent bagel.) It was the only time I’d ever seen one.
I can just imagine the reaction of the people in the boutique as first one person, then another, asks for the previously-obscure coin. I wonder how much demand there’d have to be for the Mint to crank up the forges for more production…
I like the 50 cent piece… but i dunno… carrying those toonies and loonies and now a 50 cent piece in my pockets, God forbid I fall into a lake for I would sink like a rock… and Canada does have a whole lotta lakes…
(Today I just realized we got a new 5 dollar bill… gotta love those multicoloured bills)
Never in my life had I seen a 50 cent coin. I have even worked at a cash register in a corner store for a year. I have seen a lot of freaky money, but not a 50 cent coin yet. Does Canada even make them?
That is a good idea though I would like to see a half-dollar in circulation.
Bump According to an article in today’s Toronto Star, the Mint has arranged to distribute the coin through a major ice-cream retailer, Laura Secord… when you buy mint ice-cream:
It seems that our quiet work behind the scenes has paid off… …but <looks severely around> what’s with those “other banks” not doing their patriotic duty?
I wonder how much demand there’d have to be for the Mint to crank up the forges for more production…