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| 5630 Dunbar St. at 41st Ave. 604-684-4613 |
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| Newsletter # 16, Wednesday, June 13, 2001 | ||
To P or Not To P That is the Question... |
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The Royal Canadian Mint has caused P-demonium among coin buffs by using a new P for steel plated mint mark. The small P appears beneath the Queen's head on some 1999 trial version pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, some 2000 dated five cents coins issued last November, on all the penny through fifty cent coins in the 2001 uncirculated coin set, but only on some nickels and dimes among 2001 circulating coins.
When the no P nickels were first found, they created a short term speculative market among people thinking the coins were a missing mint mark error. We now surmise that the Mint made about 30 million of each type of 2001 nickel. This makes the five cent coins about as plentiful as the monthly Millennium quarters issued over the last two years. |
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This comparison is a good guide for collectors who should consider acquiring one of each of the different P mint marked and no P coins for their collections. The market will absorb these nickels just as it has the souvenir quarters. The 2001 dimes are also interesting because there are p mint marked Schooner ten cents as well as the Volunteer commemorative dimes in circulation. Will there be a no P version of either to follow? The Caribou head quarter, the first of its kind made for circulation since 1996, is thought to have a relatively low mintage of 8 million pieces. Will there be a P mint marked version later this year? | |
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The P mint mark itself is curious. Mint marks usually denote a mint or city. For example United States coins sometimes bear a P mint mark to show they were made at the Philadelphia Mint. The Royal Canadian Mint is using a P to denoted the process by which the coins were made, rather than an O for Ottawa, or a W for Winnipeg, where our mints are located. Perhaps our Mint, which makes coins for many nations is using our P mint mark to advertise a production method they would like to extend to other | |
| countries coins. The P mint marked coins we have examined seem more prone to planchet, or die, flaws, and die cracks, like hairlines extending from lettering or design elements. It would seem the Mint has more production problems than usual with the coins produced using the new steel-plated process. Maybe this explains delays in the collector versions of the commemorative ten cents. At any rate, coin enthusiasts might consider assembling one of each of the best quality examples they can find of the P coins prior to 2001, and the P and No P versions dated 2001.
It is a challenging collection that can be put together at a nominal cost. The new series is ripe for study and there is potential for new finds. Happy Hunting. |
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Newsletter 17: Pierre Elliott Trudeau |
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