There’s no doubt 2017 is going to be an exciting year for us collectors as Canada celebrates the 150th anniversary of Confederation.
We’re all looking forward to the commemorative coins, medals, medallions, banknotes and much more that will be released over the coming months by the Royal Canadian Mint, Bank of Canada, municipalities, coin clubs and a plethora of other organizations. The hunt, of course, will be on for the rarer pieces that will be released in low mintages, or available only to select individuals and/or organizations.
We’re already feeling the excitement, as the Royal Canadian Legion became one of the first major organizations in Canada to release its own commemorative “150 Medal” to its members.
I was only three-years-old when Canada celebrated its centennial in 1967 so, as a collector, I’m really looking forward to a fun year of tracking down Canada 150 commemoratives. Our nation’s birthday will also serve as a great opportunity to launch new initiatives. Take, for example, the Bank of Canada. Besides releasing a commemorative banknote like it did in 1967, the central bank will be reopening its Currency Museum in 2017 after four years of extensive renovations.
Here at Canadian Coin News, we are excited about our “150th initiative”: a bi-monthly magazine called Nummus Canada. The new online magazine will serve as an extension of CCN, with the mandate of extending our reach to a much broader worldwide audience of beginner and advanced collectors. Thanks to the Internet and advances in digital publishing, we have an opportunity to introduce our hobby to more Canadians, Americans and collectors overseas.
The editorial content will be spearheaded by the award-winning team of Serge Pelletier and Steve Woodland. Of course, we will also be utilizing the great skills and expertise of our existing CCN writers and columnists for Nummus Canada, but the content between the publications will be entirely different.
Trends, for example, will continue to be available only in CCN as well as many of our popular columns, including Colonial Tokens, Ancient Money, Numismatic Fringe, Errors & Varieties, and the World of Money.
Nummus Canada will be available only as a digital magazine, readable on mobiles, tablets and desktops. However, it will also be available in a downloadable PDF format so subscribers can easily print off the entire magazine or particular pages of interest.
Another first for Trajan Media is Nummus Canada will be available in English and French editions, which will serve to give us a broader reach in the province of Quebec and countries where French is the mother tongue.
Our goal is simple. We want to reach more beginner and advanced collectors of Canadian decimals, medals, commemoratives, tokens and banknotes, whether they live here in Canada, the United States, Central and South America or overseas. We will also be expanding the market reach for our advertisers who, thanks to the Internet, can make their offerings and services available to any location.
The goal is already proving to be a win-win for our hobby. A special marketing initiative launched in late September has already yielded new subscribers for Nummus Canada, who do not currently receive CCN. As for our CCN subscribers, details of a special offer will be released in November. Stay tuned.
Canada’s 150th birthday celebrations will indeed be a year of fun hunting and new numismatic opportunities.