…and most of the red was gone from the poppy.
The coin has a red painted poppy in the middle. My coin had a circular metal indentation with a grid of tiny pits to grip the paint. Scraps of red and black paint remained in the pits, but the bulk of it was gone. 
My sister got one and the colour was all there.
I think they look kind of funny, but at least there’s some meaning behind it, so I won’t complain.
I know how you feel. You know the new American dollar coins, the Sackies? It turns out that the gold-colored coating can wear off after a while. What you get when this happens is a dull bronze-colored coin that look a lot like an arcade token. A while ago, I received such a coin from the stamp machine. I thought I had gotten a slug, and was about to call the post office to complain, when I took a second look and saw that it was a Sackie.
I was so disappointed when I got one from Tim Hortons’s. On the commercial it looks so cool. I thought it was some kind of ionized (?) metal. You know, the way the colour the metal of rock climbing equipment. Instead it’s some kind of mesh with metallic paint that scarpes off? Pfeh!
I’ve got a purple rappel device that’s managed to hold it’s colour pretty well despite rope friction. You can scratch the red off the poppy with your thumbnail.
And they look so cool on TV.
The word you were searching for was anodized. Anodizing is a plating process. Ionizing involves the removal of electrons.
I have 4 from the first day they were released at Tims. No scratches on those 
Ah! That’s the word I’d been looking for! “Anodized.”
I hadn’t had my coffee yet and was doing the aphabetical game:
“Angelized… Bionized… Colonized – Colonized!… No. Wait. That’s not it… Dionized… Ellephanized…”
Finally got to “ionized” and figured, “meh, close enough.”
I keep going to Tim’s and I haven’t gotten one yet. One would think they’d test how well the paint stayed on. I guess that’s expecting too much. :rolleyes:
The mint knew that the red paint was temporary. On the day it was released officials said that they fully expected that the paint would wear off with normal circulation.
Yeah but whith the two different metals in the twonie… it would have been cool if they’d used some kind of… Dammit! Applesized… Almondized… Anodized!… anodized insert. Even if it wasn’t poppy shaped. A red disk with an engraved poppy like the gold disk with engraved bears in the twonie.
That would have been too cool! Maybe next year…
The Canadians should change the name of their currency to avoid confusion with American coinage. For example, rename the Quarter the 250 Millicent Piece. It’s metric, like the Loon it’s uniquely Canadian, it’ll be a big help to retailers on the border and will make thread titles on message boards more specific.
An idea whose time has come!
and gone
Nah… not cutsie enough.
Let’s see… it takes four quarters to make a Loonie… How 'bout a Fournie?
Oo! Or better yet, base it on both “quarter” like the French word for four “quatre” and call it a Quatrie (\kwat’-tree).
Loonie… Toonie… Kwatrie…
Or is it too much like “twat”?
Would be much cooler to simply put a ruby in where it is supposed to be red.
But that would probably make the coin slightly more valuable than a quarter of a Canadian dollar.
so… would the process of rounding prices to the nearest multiple of 25 cents to allow change in Fournies alone be called…Fourny-cation? 
I’m really really really hoping to get one of these when I’m up in Canadia in a couple weeks. From the posts I’m guessing that Tim’s is one of the best places to get one?
Timmy’s is pretty much the only place to get one, unless you belong to the Legion.
I went and had lunch at Tim Horton’s just to get one of these.
This reminds me of a story. A friend of mine was working in the gift shop of a tourist attraction in Victoira. They weren’t allowed to give out change in anything but Canadian money. So a tourist comes up and pays for something with their sweet sweet US cash, and he gives them their change in Canadian (with proper exchange rate of course).
The tourist is looking at the money in their hand with a bit of a puzzeld expression. My friend then explained “This is a dime, this is a quarter…” etc.
The tourists eyes light up and said “Hey you use the same names that we do. Do you call it money up here too?”
Okay. Followed the link. Read (red? heh) about the coin. Cool! I’m going to have to find one down here in the U.S. of A. My state shares a border with Canada, but it’s a long drive!
Anyway, on to the question. What is Tim Hortons (I notice there’s no apostrophe where it’s mentioned on the Mint’s Web site) and why did the Canadian government give them exclusive distribution of a coin?
“What is Tim Hortons”?.. “What is Tim Hortons”???.. “WHAT IS TIM HORTONS”???
throws down gauntlet in offense
Why it is our Official National Coffee-'N-Donuts Institution! The symbol of our national pride! Our national identity in a warm cup of addictive goodness!
With bean juice of happiness that is so good it merited its own Urban Legend (see Snopes for “nicotene in Tim Hortons coffee to make it addictive”.)
It is the Land of Timbits, Camp Day, and Fancy Poppy Quater! – ahem – Land of the Fancy Poppy Fournie!
It was founded and named after a hockey player, for Og’s sake!
“What is Tim Hortons?” … 'Mericans haven’t a clue about cultures outide their own border. Harumpf! Next they’ll be asking “What’s that tall tower thingy in Toronto?” or “Who’s that guy in the red uniform on a horse with the big hat?” or “What’s ‘curling’?”
sputters… stomps off muttering about missing apostrophes…