Archives

• April 1, 2019

  How Does $ = Dollar?

  By: Graham Iddon

  
  

  

  How on earth did an “S” with a line or two through it come to represent a dollar? Any ideas? No? That’s OK, you’re in good company.

  Content type(s): Blog posts
• March 29, 2019

  TTC Tokens and the Proposed 1978 Cent

  By: David Bergeron

  
  

  

  In 1977, the Royal Canadian Mint wanted to reduce the size of the penny in response to the rising price of copper. Little did the Mint know that the Toronto Transit Commission’s reaction would force the cancellation of the program.

  Content type(s): Blog posts
• March 14, 2019

  Trading Planets

  

  Onsite program: Travel to planet Plutopia on a trade mission with your students. Once there, you will see that trading goods without a common currency poses some serious problems. Trading Planets uses interactive, game-based learning to teach about trade, currency, and supply and demand.

  Content type(s): School programs Subject(s): Social studies Grade level(s): Grade 04, Grade 05, Grade 06
• March 14, 2019

  Inflation Busters

  

  Onsite program: How do you plan for the future when you don’t know what things will cost? Join the fight against inflation in Inflation Busters, a game-based program for students. Who knew learning about monetary policy could be fun? We did!

  Content type(s): School programs Subject(s): Economics Grade level(s): Grade 09 / Secondary 3, Grade 10 / Secondary 4, Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5
• March 8, 2019

  The Vertical Note That Almost Was

  By: Graham Iddon

  
  

  

  The printing firms’ design teams went to work and came back with a surprising result: vertical notes.

  Content type(s): Blog posts
• February 19, 2019

  The Coming of the Toonie

  By: David Bergeron, Graham Iddon

  
  

  

  The life expectancy of a two-dollar paper note was about a year. But coins can last for more than 10 years.

  Content type(s): Blog posts
• February 8, 2019

  The Canadian Roots of the “Greenback”

  By: Graham Iddon

  
  

  

  Successfully counterfeiting a bank note in the mid-19th century required an engraver with reasonably high talent and very low ethics.

  Content type(s): Blog posts
• January 30, 2019

  What’s Up Next for 2019?

  By: Graham Iddon

  
  

  

  Instead of bragging about our visitor statistics and the popularity our programming (both great!), we’ll talk about what’s coming up for early 2019.

  Content type(s): Blog posts
• January 24, 2019

  Boer War Siege Money

  By: Graham Iddon

  
  

  

  As in any siege, Mafeking quickly began to run short of most things, not the least of which was cash.

  Content type(s): Blog posts
• January 3, 2019

  The first Canadian nickel

  By: David Bergeron

  
  

  

  The size of the 1-cent coin was reduced to save on the cost of copper. At the same time, there were proposals to mint Canadian coins out of cheap and abundant nickel.

  Content type(s): Blog posts