A Canadian silver dollar originally sold as part of a $34.95 baby keepsake gift has become one of the more elusive modern Royal Canadian Mint issues, with another example heading to auction this weekend.
London Coin Centre will offer a 2007 Baby Keepsake Tin containing the special ABC Building Blocks sterling silver dollar as Lot 2237 of its Sept. 12-14 auction. Bidding on the set opens at $300.
The set may look more at home in a nursery than in a collection of Canadian numismatic rarities.
Issued by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2007, the Baby Keepsake Tin was marketed as a way for parents and families to preserve memories from a baby’s first year. It contained the special-edition silver dollar along with two embossed containers intended to hold a baby’s first tooth and first curl.
The pieces were packaged together in a brushed-metal box with an illustrated outer sleeve.
At the centre of the set, however, is a dollar that has become considerably more valuable than the Mint’s original $34.95 price for the entire package.
The 11-sided coin is struck in .925 sterling silver, weighs seven grams and measures 26.5 millimetres in diameter. Its reverse features children’s alphabet building blocks, giving rise to its ABC Building Blocks nickname.
The Mint originally established a mintage limit of 10,000 sets, but its own production and sales figures indicate considerably fewer reached collectors.
According to the Mint’s 2007 annual report, 3,229 of the Baby Keepsake Tin and Silver Dollar sets were sold by the end of that year. Its 2008 annual report records another 23 of the 2007 sets issued during the following year.
That relatively small number has helped turn what began as an inexpensive gift product into a sought-after modern Mint issue.
The secondary market provides evidence of the change.
The coin’s rise in value can be traced through auction results over the past several years.
In 2020, examples of the complete Baby Keepsake Tin sold for $375 and $349 before buyer’s premium, with the final prices reaching $431.25 and $401.35 respectively.
As collector interest increased, another example realized $585 before premium, or $672.75 including the buyer’s premium. By 2023, a sealed set brought $425 before premium and $501.50 with premium.
More recent retail and catalogue valuations have moved higher still. Complete sets have been offered in the $850 range, while a PR-69 example of the ABC Building Blocks dollar has been valued at about $1,000.
Taken together, the results show how a Mint product originally sold for just $34.95 has developed into a modern collectible worth several hundred dollars, with higher-grade examples approaching the $1,000 level.
The coin is one of several unusual dollars the Mint produced during 2007, a year that included a number of special-edition and gift-oriented numismatic products.
That year’s Mint offerings included dollars associated with baby, wedding and other special sets, along with commemorative issues honouring Mohawk leader Thayendanegea and the Celebration of Arts.
Some of the special-set dollars have themselves become difficult to find. London Coin Centre’s auction, for example, also includes a 2007 Premium Wedding Proof Set as Lot 2239, opening at $500.
For collectors, the ABC Building Blocks dollar is also a reminder that scarcity among modern Canadian coins does not necessarily come from an issue that was marketed as scarce when it was released.
In this case, a $34.95 keepsake intended to mark the arrival of a new baby has quietly developed into a modern Canadian collectible worth many times its original issue price.
Lot 2237 will be offered as part of London Coin Centre’s three-day auction running Sept. 12-14.