What’s the difference between the Canadian mint sets and specimen sets?
The specimen sets contain better quality coins. To quote the Royal Canadian Mint, “the very best struck by a pair of dies.” I’m sure the Swiss Mint would argue the point. Are there any other periods besides the turn of the century when the Mint was buying prepared coin blanks rather than making their own? The practice continued on an irregular basis all through the 1900s. A contemporary report noted that the Philadelphia Mint in 1940 purchased 60 million cent blanks from the Riverside Metal Co. of Riverside, N.J. The current practice is to buy all the copper-plated zinc cent planchets from outside suppliers, and either blanks or strip for the other denominations. Address questions to Coin Clinic, Numismatic News, 700 E. State St., Iola, WI 54990. Because of space limitations, we are unable to publish all questions. Include a loose 44-cent stamp for reply. Write first for specific mailing instructions before submitting numismatic material. We cannot accept unsolicited items. E-mail inqu
