The Museum Blog
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April 22, 2019
Conserving the Spider Press
Used extensively in the 19th century, this type of hand-operated press printed secure financial documents using the intaglio method. -
April 1, 2019
How Does $ = Dollar?
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. -
March 29, 2019
TTC Tokens and the Proposed 1978 Cent
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. -
March 8, 2019
The Vertical Note That Almost Was
The printing firms’ design teams went to work and came back with a surprising result: vertical notes. -
February 19, 2019
The Coming of the Toonie
The life expectancy of a two-dollar paper note was about a year. But coins can last for more than 10 years. -
February 8, 2019
The Canadian Roots of the “Greenback”
Successfully counterfeiting a bank note in the mid-19th century required an engraver with reasonably high talent and very low ethics. -
January 30, 2019
What’s Up Next for 2019?
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. -
January 24, 2019
Boer War Siege Money
As in any siege, Mafeking quickly began to run short of most things, not the least of which was cash. -
January 3, 2019
The first Canadian nickel
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. -
December 28, 2018
A Good Deal
In Canada playing cards were used as form of emergency money at a time when the colony constantly suffered from a shortage gold and silver coins.
