1. The Royal Canadian Mint have produced more than 52 billion coins for dozens of countries including Centavos for Cuba, kroner for Norway, and pesos for Colombia. Their longest continuous contract for producing foreign coins is with Barbados – more than 30 years. The Winnipeg Mint is Canada's high-volume coin production powerhouse. Here, the industry's most technologically advanced processes and equipment produce up to 15 million plated coins each day for Canadian and foreign circulation.
Other TRCM Facts:
- Take a look in your wallet. You may find a coloured Poppy coin from 2004. If so, you're holding a piece of history because it is the first coloured circulation coin in the world!
It took a while for people to get used to it. In fact, it was mistaken as a spy coin. When American defence contractors first saw the poppy coin in 2007, they examined the coin's security features and incorrectly concluded that the protective coating was being used to hide a surveillance device!
- As most of us 'older' Canadians know, before the loonie and the toonie we used paper money for the 1 and 2 dollars. But we bet you didn't know there is an interesting unsolved mystery... the original design for the loonie was of the voyageurs, the explorers in Canada but somehow, the mold was lost between Ottawa and Winnipeg and never recovered. Where is it? Did it fall off a truck? Nobody knows and so to prevent counterfeit money, The Royal Canadian Mint changed the design to the loonie.
- In another cool 'first', in 2012 the mint produced 'Glow in the Dark' dinosaur coins.
