There was a lot of money at the Royal Canadian Legion on York Road here on March 26 – and much of it, as one might expect, was highly desirable.
Over 450 people were attending the annual coin show, which featured not only all kinds of coins from all over the world, but also many of the bills that are cash around the planet.
It was all part of the South Wellington Coin Society’s annual show.
Dan Jones, who bills himself as The Coin Guy, was busy showing off a number of special bills and coins of various ages, nationalities, and denominations to a number of collectors. Old Canadian $1 and $2 bills looked to be in mint condition, which means they must have been saved hot off the press – because those bills have not been printed for years.
Jones is the president of the Essex County Coin Club, and said he has been attending the South Wellington Society’s show for the last “six or seven years.”
The local club president, Mike Hollingshead, was also busy directing people to where they could find whatever coins or bills they were seeking – as well as showing off many of his own items.
He has his own philosophy for promotion of a show, and it appeared to be working for his club.
“There’s a lot of club’s that don’t spend money advertising their show,” he said. “It’s the most important thing there is.”
By mid-morning, the show was packed.
He said a lot of the early arrivals are “die hard collectors,” but, he added with a smile, just about everybody is a coin collector, whether they know it or not.
He cited the 1983 Royal Canadian Mount Police quarter, the one showing the horse and said hundreds of people have saved those coins in the drawer. And, he said with a chuckle, people ask him constantly what type of horse is on that coin.
Why, a quarter horse, of course.
He noted that lots of people have put coins or bills in a drawer, unwilling to spend them for one reason or another, and that makes them collectors.
Hollingshead also had a display of Canadian $50 and $100 bills that will soon be available. They are made of polymer, not paper. That is to help foil counterfeiters.
According to Wikipedia, polymer is a large molecule (macromolecule) composed of repeating structural units. Those subunits are typically connected by covalent chemical bonds. Although the term polymer is sometimes taken to refer to plastics, it actually encompasses a large class of natural and synthetic materials with a wide variety of properties.
Hollingshead said counterfeiters are the reason so many mints change their currencies so regularly. When counterfeiters catch up to the technology, the mint moves on and hopes to slow them down.
And counterfeiters can come from anywhere, Hollingshead said, and they don’t necessarily operate even in North America. He said China is becoming well known for its counterfeit cash.
Someone recently showed him a Canadian 1941 silver dollar. Which, he said, was interesting, since those coins were not made between 1940 and 1945 when the war was on.
“Chinese,” he said, noting that the coin was underweight, too.
“It’s amazing the counterfeit stuff that comes out of China today.”
Hollingshead also had a bill from China, called Hell money. He said it is the custom there to burn money for the deceased so he does not go to Hell.
The South Wellington Coin Club has about 40 members, and the show attracted dealers and aficionados from as far away as Windsor, London, Owen Sound, Hamilton and Toronto.
The club meets at the Rockwood library every first Wednesday of the month at 7pm.
For more information, call Hollingshead at 519-823-COIN (2646), or visit www.w3design.com/swcs/.
