Campbellford, Ontario
The toonie is a bi-metallic coin introduced to Canadians in 1996 and was originally made of an aluminum bronze core with a nickel rim. However starting this year the core will be coated with brass and the outer ring will consist of steel plated with nickel. It's hoped the new coin will make them harder to counterfeit.
Backs of four toonies
I found four toonies in my change to show you their different backs. (Queen Elizabeth II is on the front of all.)
Starting in the upper left-hand corner and moving clockwise: 1996 shows you the original bear designed by Campbellford artist Brent Townsend (the reason for the big toonie in the first photo); 1999 features an Inuit drummer and commemorates the founding of Canada's third territory (carved out of the Northwest Territorries); 2008 commemorates the 400th anniversary of the founding Quebec City; and 2011 celebrates Canada's boreal forest (which covers more than half of Canada's land mass).
Added later because there have been questions: We do not use $1 or $2 bills here. We use $1 and $2 coins.
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36 comments:
Very interesting!
Interesting picture!
Do people travel to see the "Big Toonie"! We have "big" almost everything’s in towns here - pineapples, lobsters etc!
Cheers - Stewart M - Australia
Nice I travelled for the big Toonie but there is a very nice Chocolate Factory that is my very favourite spot:) B
Interesting. How they merely commemorative coins or are they actually used as currency. You said you found them in your change. How do they compare in size to other Canadian/US coins?
we used to see Canadian dimes here, but have not for years. this is the first i have heard of or seen a toonie. i wonder if that BIG one is worth more than the small ones. ha ha our news this week said the govt spend 3.5 cents to make a one cent penny.
Interesting coins. Are they used a lot? Dollar coins are pretty rare here - I can't recall the last time I saw one. Maybe casinos still use them.
Darla
What beautiful coins! :)
With inflation I’m guessing the toonies are now worth about as much as the loonies when they first came on the scene. It was interesting to read this bit of history about their founding. They are nice to have but weighty in my pocket. :)
I adore bi-metal coins. Very cool. Great pictures.
$1 coins are being pushed in the US but people don't use them much. There is a president's series now. The state quarters were a big hit...I bet every school kid collected them.
I liked the idea of using coins instead of paper when we traveled in Canada. It just seemed to make more sense to me. We had one dollar coins here but I think they all got hoarded away because no one ever uses them and they are hard to find.
Great post!
My first though was "Why is that thing in Campbellford?", so I'm glad you enlightened me farther along.
My thought is that it would cost more to produce a bi-metal coin so why then?
Very interesting! They're all great designs, but I like the 1999 toonie with the Inuit drummer. The designer was very creative and did an excellent job.
I've never looked at my toonies that closely. Think I'm going to have to break out the change purse and take a look. :)
It has proved impossible to get Americans to accept dollar coins much less two dollar coins.
I now tend to think all small purchases are either 1 or 2 dollars, because of the coins. Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.
That first shot is really big money!
Nice work with the illustrations and explanations. Very interesting post.
K
What an interesting post for the day!! Love your shots of the coins! Sounds like a good thing to me! Hope you have a good week!
Sylvia
Oh, and I love the name Toonie!!
Sylvia
The only problems with the loonies and toonies are how big and how heavy they are: a pocket or purse full of change is pretty heavy. I admit that they are attractive though.
I prefer the old bills EG. Those coins are heavy when you have a whack of them. They are great for giving to the grandies though.
What a great post to read and look at today. Very clever! You come up with some great ideas for photos and storytelling. Such a joy coming to your blogspot.
Interesting post and I like the coin shots.
Those are more interesting than ours.
I didn't realize that counterfeit coins were a problem. I've seen $1 coins, but the $2 coins are new to me.
What a great sculpture!
Very interesting post EG, thanks so much for the information!The details are beautiful, love your pictures!
Léia
Fascinating, I knew you had Loonies, but not Toonies. I appreciate the education.
I like your 'toonies', I didn't know they were still counterfeiting coins.
I didn't know this. There's a push in this country to get rid of the $1.00 bill, but I don't know if they intend to replace it with a coin or not. They've tried $1.00 coins before and they didn't work.
It's great to see the big toonie that is very close to where I live. We drive by it quite often. Campbellford is a lovely town.
Very interesting to show your world through coins and money! I like the designs, especially the bear.
informative and interesting post...good job!
-r1-
Toonie is a very interesting word.
We have those type of coins in the Philippines. Just like jewelry, I describe it as two-tone.
you still use the quarters?
The only problem with the loonies is that many of the European currencies look the same. Interesting post, EG. :-)
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