Volume 50#19

January 1 – January 14, 2013

The cabinet containing the collection of L.E. Bruun.

Mint unleashes Bank of Canada gold coin holdings

The final gold coins in the Bank of Canada’s reserves are being put up for sale. The Royal Canadian Mint has been consigned what it refers to as “a rare collection of Canada’s first gold coins, produced by the Mint from 1912 to 1914.” The coins take the form of almost a quarter-million Canadian $5 and $10 gold coins with 1912, 1913 and 1914 dates. They have been stored at the Bank of Canada for more than 75 years after becoming part of the Government of Canada’s Exchange Fund Account. The non-Canadian gold had been disposed of in the 1970s. The Mint announced that the highest quality of these $5 and $10 gold coins are now being offered for sale to convert the proceeds into quality fixed-income securities. The remainder are to be melted. Continue reading →

Regulars

Focus on special commemoratives

Page 22

Check out the shows in your area

Page 27

Are you buying or selling?

Page 30

Editorial

Melt softens gold purge’s impact on coin series

However, for the most part, the collecting hobby agreed that there were thousands of gold coins sitting around waiting to be sold. The concern was always what would happen if these ever entered the market. Now using the Royal Canadian Mint makes sense; it is a Crown corporation, so there is no way there can be any sort of preferential treatment given to any company. What’s more, the profits, either through retained earnings or dividends, remain in the public pocket. The other thing that makes sense is that the vast majority of these coins, some 90 per cent, are going to be melted. As one collector remarked, it did feel a bit like burning books, but try to imagine the chaos that would ensue if nearly a quarter-million gold coins were poured into the Canadian market, even if it was done over a period of several months.

Continue reading →