Happy 25th birthday to the loonie!
Posted June 30, 2012 9:07 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA, ON (NEWS1130) – The Canadian loonie is celebrating its 25th birthday after being released into circulation on June 30th, 1987.
The $1 bill, the predecessor to the loonie, was last produced in 1989.
Alex Reeves with the Royal Canadian Mint says there was a lot of resistance to the coin at first, but thinks taxpayers have to be happy the government has saved so much by switching.
“The rough figure is about $175-million and that was 20 years after the introduction of the loonie and that was five years ago. It keeps paying for itself literally,” explains Reeves.
He adds the Loon wasn’t the original design chosen, but was picked after the original “Voyageur” prints were lost in transit to Ottawa.
The Mint will commemorate the birthday with a special $1 silver coin. The coin will feature two loons swimming past each other. They will go on sale July 16th.
A total of 15,000 of the commemorative coins will be issued.
Coin collectors say a $1 bill in mint condition is worth a maximum of $3 to a collector. Otherwise, the bill is simply worth $1, and can actually be used as legal tender.
