Articles

The Esso “Play Coins” of Australia. By: MICC Lifetime member #001 Every so often, plastic tokens with obverses similar to the above show up, leading us to wonder what they are. They are actually a sort of play money given away to children by the Esso Oil Company stations in […]

The First Foreign Issues of the Ottawa Mint. By: MICC Lifetime member #001 It’s quite true that it’s an ill wind that blows no one any good – and this was true even of the international disaster called the First World War. The war proved to be very, very good […]

Aluminum – The Poor-Relative Coinage Metal. By: MICC Lifetime member #001 When it comes to being a coinage metal, we tend to think of aluminum as one of the “junk” metals, ranking just ahead of zinc. Everything conspires to make this so: it is used only by second- and third-world […]

The Calgary Commemorative Silver Dollar of 1975 By: MICC Lifetime member #001 Calgary was founded for one overriding purpose: location. Immediately after he had the power to do so after Confederation, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald moved to establish a Canadian presence in vast unsettled area of the Prairies. His […]

The “Tree Cents” of Prince Edward Island. By: MICC Lifetime member #001 For many years, the local currency pound of Prince Edward Island was out of step with those of the rest of her neighbours who typically used “Halifax Currency” whereby a dollar (U.S., Spanish-American or Spanish) was valued at […]

Genoa Bay Farm By: Ron Greene (From Transactions of the Canadian Numismatic Research Society, Vol. 4, 1968, p.43. Reprinted by permission). Genoa Bay Farm is situated in a very pretty little valley overlooking Genoa Bay about eight road miles east of Duncan. The farm is owned and operated by Mr. […]

The Allied Military Certificate Replacements of Germany By: MICC Lifetime member #001 During WWII, the Allies issued special currencies for use in various areas recently retaken from the Germans. There were issues for Austria, Italy, France and Germany itself as well as another for Japan. A lot were issued and […]

The Fabulous 1804 U.S. Dollar. By: MICC Lifetime member #001 How very strange to realize that the most expensive coin in world is far from being the rarest; that it was not struck in 1804 but rather decades later – and on two occasions at that; that it never circulated […]

Camp Currency for “Displaced Persons”  By: MICC Lifetime member #001 With the fall of the Nazis in May, 1945, Europe was in chaos with entire foreign populations residing in Germany and Austria, some wishing to be repatriated, many not. One large group was the Jews, survivors of the camps and, […]