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The introduction of the "toonie"


Nightwing

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:ninja: I hope I got someone's attention. I thought this might be a trip down memory lane for some. Below is a reprinting of a brief article that I found at http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...c5-f5aa95c9a1b7.

 

 

Feb. 16, 1996: Make room for 'doubloonie'

This day in history

The Ottawa Citizen

Published: Saturday, February 16, 2008

 

Stories from our pages over the last 150 years.

 

It will be out with the old and in with the new Monday as Canadians trade tatty, orange $2 bills for shiny new ''doubloonie'' coins.

 

Banks will begin taking the first of 245 million $2 bills out of circulation today. They are destined for the shredder.

On Monday, banks will begin dispensing the $2 coins. The $2 notes will still be legal tender. They'll gradually be withdrawn from circulation as they become worn or soiled and are returned to the bank in deposits.

 

The new coin is larger and heavier than the loonie -- 28 millimetres across and 7.3 grams in weight compared with the loonie's 26.6 millimetres and seven grams.

 

The $2 coin consists of two metals: an outer ring of nickel and an inner core of aluminum/bronze. The image of Queen Elizabeth is on one side. A polar bear on an ice floe is on the other.

 

The coin has already been dubbed the toonie, bloon, polar and doubloonie. No nickname has emerged yet as Canadians' favorite.

 

There's no rush on behalf of city hall to update parking meters, said Nirmal Dillon, Victoria's manager of collections.

 

 

Anyone care to reminisce about what they thought when the Canadain $2 bill was replaced by the $2 coin?

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  • 1 year later...

Too young to remember much, other then that the $2 notes were put aside at some stores (and $1 or $2 coins used for change). The notes began dissppearing through the spring, and by the late summer, they were seldom seen.

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  • 1 year later...

I was living in Japan at the time the Toonie was introduced. Three days after the introduction, my mother called. "Did you hear about the $2 coins, they're falling apart!" My mother then sent me a news article showing a photo of someone holding the 2 pieces of the coin. My parents also told me that the $2 bills were completely gone within a month after the introduction. Some banks were apparently asking their business customers to please return all $2 bills they got from customers, though there was never a legal requirement for stores to forward all acquired $2 bills to their bank.

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As a kid, I remember using $2 bills to buy candy at the store. I don't recall what I thought about changing to the $2 coin, probably nothing as loonies were the norm. I don't recall ever using a $1 bill.

 

Interesting aside, my friend tried to use a $2 bill (acquired from me in a poker game, lol) to pay for some beer the other day. The teller would not take it. He said the chain president sent out a memo saying not to accept old paper bills that don't have a hologram on them.

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