Your online presence is required.
We recognize that you can’t all get out to see us personally. It’s a long way from Corner Brook or Saskatoon and the bus service from Iqaluit is just awful. But, you’re almost here — virtually speaking of course. We have a mandate to be a ‘national’ museum, available to all Canadians and it is here that you will be able to:
- tour our exhibitions,
- learn about the Bank’s functions,
- explore in detail the artifacts in our collection and
- read articles and research papers written by our knowledgeable curators.
Of course, you must check out the blog for up-to-date Museum news, events and the errant musings and curious activities of our staff.
August 21, 2025
Whatever happened to the penny? A history of our one-cent coin.
By: Graham Iddon
The idea of the penny as the basic denomination of an entire currency system has been with Canadians for as long as there has been a Canada. But the one-cent piece itself has been gone since 2012.
Content type(s):
Blog posts
Subject(s):
History
August 5, 2025
Good as gold? A simple explanation of the gold standard
By: Graham Iddon
In an ideal gold standard monetary system, every piece of paper currency represents an amount of gold held by an authority. But in practice, the gold standard system’s rules were extremely and repeatedly bent in the face of economic realities.
Content type(s):
Blog posts
Subject(s):
Business,
Economics,
Financial literacy,
History
Grade level(s):
Grade 03,
Grade 10 / Secondary 4,
Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5
May 22, 2025
Speculating on the piggy bank
By: Graham Iddon
Ever since the first currencies allowed us to store value, we’ve needed a special place to store those shekels, drachmae and pennies. And the piggy bank—whether in pig form or not—has nearly always been there.
Content type(s):
Blog posts
Subject(s):
Arts,
Business,
Economics,
English language arts,
Financial literacy,
Geography,
Health,
History,
Math,
Science
Grade level(s):
Grade 09 / Secondary 3,
Grade 10 / Secondary 4,
Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5
Exhibitions
They’re the lifeblood of any museum, the reason you come here and the reason we are here. Visit our exhibitions in all their forms both current and past.
Collections
Who likes money? We do, and lots of it. And here is your window to our enormous collection of currency and currency-related artifacts.
