Saying goodbye to the Canadian penny
Posted May 4, 2012 8:57 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Save your pennies; after today, the government isn’t making any more of them!
The Royal Canadian Mint will strike the last one at its facility in Winnipeg but it seems people just don’t want to let go of those little copper coins.
Interest in the penny has only heightened since Ottawa announced the phase-out.
“Absolutely. You know, [at our] auction on Saturday, we actually have the first Canadian penny for sale,” explains Brian Grant Duff, owner of All Nations Coins and Change in Vancouver’s Dunbar neighbourhood.
“It’s an 1858 large cent and we’ve certainly been selling more those since the Government of Canada killed the one-cent coin,” he adds.
Grant Duff adds it might be worth your while to go through that pocketful of change or penny jar. “An 1858 large cent goes for about $30. Some of those old large cents, which we discontinued in 1920, range in value from as little as 15 cents up to $35.”
It was five weeks ago that Ottawa announced one-cent coins will no longer be produced, a move that will save the government $11 million a year. The value of pennies has fallen so much over the years, they cost more to make than they’re worth.
Although Canadian pennies will no longer be manufactured, they will be accepted in cash transactions for as long as Canadians hold on to them.
