Post-2000 zinc pennies

[Finn235]

So, living in the southern US, I almost never see Canadian coins in circulation. If I do, it's generally a stray 1970-something penny in a roll from the bank. Needless to say, I know very little about Canadian coins.

 

Several months ago, I found a moderately circulated 2006 penny. I noticed that the Queen's portrait had changed once again, but didn't pay much attention otherwise. Then I found a 2007 penny a few weeks ago and noticed that it was strongly magnetic. I looked it up on Wikipedia, and noticed that all coins made since 2000 are supposed to be made of steel. Simply out of curiosity, I dug out the 2006 penny and ran a magnet over it. Nothing. I was using a NdFeB magnet I pulled out of a hard drive, so it would have stuck if it was even remotely magnetic.

 

So my question to you... Are these rare? All I could find on Wikipedia was a little foot note saying "Collectors have reported finding zinc cents dated as late as 2006 in circulation" which leads me to believe that they are uncommon at least.

[ccg]

I haven't kept track so I won't be able to respond properly, but there were some years (e.g. 2002) where the mint intentionally produced both steel and zinc cents.

[Saor Alba]

They started minting the zincs ca. 1997 or so and the steels in the past few years. Personally I do not care too much for the steel ones because they get *REJECTED* by the coin counting machines at my bank. I am in a part of the US where I generally see more current Canadian coins before I see US coins though, so yes I have gotten several 2009 Canadians, but very few USA 2009s and no 2010s to speak of yet.

[Finn235]

Haha... I'm glad I'm not the only one who is confused by the way the RCM chooses to conduct business. I found a zinc 2006 penny on ebay earlier today for about $1, but I know better than to trust ebay when it comes to giving fair and accurate estimates of how much something is worth.

 

And going off of Saor Alba here, I think the only reason the 2006 penny made it all the way down here is its physical similarity to US pennies. The 2006 was removed from active circulation, whereas the 2007 had been recovered from the floor--probably dropped by some kid.

[Saor Alba]

The worst date for Canadian cents IMHO are the 2004's they practically all get rejected in coin machines - must be all steel for that year. But I do rather like getting the YH QEII's and even the occasional GVI in my change - got a 1940 a couple of weeks ago. At least near Ontario there seems to be older coins in the cent and five cent denominations circulating - even the older 12 sided fivers that are pure nickel.