Canadian pennies for scrap copper or brass

[pennyguy]

Does any one know if people living in Canada can sell there copper pennies as scrap?
or is there a ban still?
Thanks

[Mercuryman]

Canada got rid of their penny, yes they can be melted now along with their .999 nickels. They had a metal allocation program where the coins were bought back at metal value.

[pennyguy]

Ok Thanks, I cant find any info on this anywhere,
So only the government will buy them for melt value?
Just curious ,as how this is all playing out in Canada .

[henrysmedford]

It is illegal for a Canadian to Melt down Canadian coins that still have legal tender status.

Melting Coins

Marginal note:Melting down coins

11 (1) No person shall, except in accordance with a licence granted by the Minister, melt down, break up or use otherwise than as currency any coin that is current and legal tender in Canada.

See. https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-52/page-1.html

[Mercuryman]

Pennies are no longer legal tender. So this would not apply?

I'm wondering about .999 nickels. Ive read that these were being resold to the government to be melted for a percentage of the base metal price.

[Mercuryman]

So even though they are not legal tender they are not allowed to be melted by anyone except for the mint itself.

Here's an article about a guy that tried https://business.financialpost.com/inve ... r-coin/amp

[mtalbot_ca]

So even though they are not legal tender they are not allowed to be melted by anyone except for the mint itself.

Here's an article about a guy that tried https://business.financialpost.com/inve ... r-coin/amp

Correct!

There is a market for unsorted coins, around 2.5x (1953 - 2012), and for sorted older coins (1920 - 1952) (common years at 5x, other years as per scarcity/demand).

[henrysmedford]

Pennies are no longer legal tender. So this would not apply?

I'm wondering about .999 nickels. Ive read that these were being resold to the government to be melted for a percentage of the base metal price.

Still legal tender. From --https://www.mint.ca/store/mint/about-the-mint/faqs---businesses-6900006#.XEfN4i2ZNsN

Are businesses required to accept pennies after February 4, 2013?

While businesses do not have a legal obligation to accept any particular Canadian coins or bank notes in a retail transaction, the penny will continue to be legal tender like all other Canadian coins, and businesses may accept the coin as a means of payment if they so choose.

After February 4, 2013, are businesses allowed to make change in pennies if they wish?

This is an individual business decision.

[Mercuryman]

Thanks for the clarification, I guess they will likely always be legal tender.

[henrysmedford]

Found a fun read-- From https://canadiancoinnews.com/legal-tender-coins-cant-always-be-spent/


Legal tender coins can’t always be spent
One of the most confusing aspects of numismatics in Canada is the term legal tender.

We see it used a lot, particularly with non-circulating coins issued for the collector market, but it is also used on bullion coins, and even comes to play when someone tries to spend an old nickel dollar.

Most people, it seems, think that legal tender means money. Well the word tender is key, since legal tender means it can be used to pay a debt. Simple enough until you end up with an unusual coin, such as an old Montreal Olympics commemorative. Here is where we discover what legal tender does not mean. It does not mean that a bank has to accept it in deposit. It does not mean that a bank has to swap a coin for an equivalent amount of cash in another form. It does not mean that a merchant has to accept it at the till. And, it does not mean the Mint will swap it out for an equivalent value in paper money.

To make matters worse, there is a bit of a loophole that means that even if you are offering a legal tender of legitimate money, a merchant can refuse to accept it if they are in any way suspicious or unsure.

That is how businesses are able to legally refuse to accept $50 or $100 notes, they simply have to say that the large number of counterfeits confuse them. It also means you can’t use a pocketful of $20 for $20 coins to fill your tank at the local gas station.
Here is where things get even more confusing: a large number of coins are only legal tender up to a certain amount, in most cases less what it takes to make a roll. For example, a roll of 50 pennies is not considered legal tender since the ‘legal tender’ limit is 40 pennies. A similar rule applies to other coins, depending on denomination. In high value non-circulating coins, such as $5 and up, the limit is one coin, except for Montreal Olympics commemoratives, where legal tender are units of two coins as they are governed by a different act.

So if you owe a parking ticket of say $50 and you decide to pay it all in nickels in a wheelbarrow, the local authority can refuse to accept payment. Since 1,000 five-cent pieces are not an offering of legal tender.
Are you confused yet?

Hang on, because it gets even more confusing. Back in the 1990s, silver was worth a lot more than it is now, and the melt value of Montreal $5 and $10 silver coins was about 80 per cent of face. Some enterprising individual figured he could buy them for melt in the U.S., and then cash them here in Canada and make a tidy sum.

Sure enough, he found himself in Ottawa with a briefcase of these coins, figuring it was a simple matter to cash them in for a few thousand dollars profit.

His first stop was a branch of the Royal Bank of Canada. I guess he figured from the name that it was a government-owned bank. The bank refused and explained that the central bank was the Bank of Canada.

Off he went, only to be told that they didn’t do such things, and in any case coins were struck by the Royal Canadian Mint. Banks don’t like handling these unusual coins, because they don’t fit in with the normal coin handling system.

By now you know where he went next, only to be told that the Mint only made Canadian coins on contract and once they left the door they were the responsibility of the minister of finance.

The individual didn’t get to see the minister personally, but at the end of the day the entrepreneur went home, still owning a briefcase of silver.

It took a few months, but a compromise was reached whereby the RCM agreed to accept the coins if they were used to purchase RCM product.

The Royal Bank of Canada also agreed to do so for an indefinite time. That sort of petered out when the Bank got out of numismatics, with the exception of certain issues.

Today, if you have non-circulating legal tender you have a few choices: hope your local bank values your business well enough to take them; use them to buy product at an RCM boutique; or, try to pass them off on local businesses in the course of your normal business.

As for me, I just chuck them in a drawer along with my other orphan coins, coins such as the demonetized English sixpences which still show up from time to time.

[Mercuryman]

Wow, that's insane. They print & mint money but you may or may not be able to spend/cash it in!

[henrysmedford]

Thanks for the clarification, I guess they will likely always be legal tender.

From a 2013 post--

I wonder what "current" means. They are legal tender, but are they still current?
Anyway, even if it's never legal, you can at least export them to melt.

From---http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-52/page-1.html#docCont

Current Coins
Marginal note:Current coins

7. (1) A coin is current for the amount of its denomination in the currency of Canada if it was issued under the authority of

(a) the Royal Canadian Mint Act; or

(b) the Crown in any province of Canada before it became part of Canada and if the coin was, immediately before October 15, 1952, current and legal tender in Canada.

So this is still a Current Coin.

[Recyclersteve]

Without reading everything in this thread, I would think that if someone in the U.S. had a bunch of Canadian coins, they could melt them down here without a problem.

[pennyguy]

Thanks everybody for the info,