$20 Face Value Silver Coin Rejected, not 'Legal Tender'

[Robarons]

Remember those $20 for $20 Face silver coins that have in Canada? It seemed like a novel idea to have silver coin you could buy at face with silver in it, being able to invest in Canadian dollars and silver.

But an article at Coinflation shows a guy tried to spend them and banks outright rejected them. Apparently their 'collectable' hence do not have to accepted like circulating legal tender. This seems crazy but raises questions on the liquidity of this coin. There are processes to get your money back if the bank rejects your coin, but their unfriendly and burdensome (6 month wait?)

What your thoughts on this? And do you think this applies to the US coins as well, even though there isnt much coins here where this could happen

[Copper Catcher]

The bank is misinformed. They are legal tender.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Gold_Maple_Leaf

[Robarons]

Heres the link for you folks:

Bank Refuses To Recognize $20 Face Value Silver Bullion Coin

http://www.thestar.com/business/article ... e-hard-way

[Oakair]

The bank is misinformed. They are legal tender.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Gold_Maple_Leaf

These are different from the $20 face value coins made of under 20$ worth of silver...in all other cases, there is more silver or gold than the face value, and as far as I know, that's not the case in these

[AGgressive Metal]

Rejecting legal tender just because it is a "collector coin" seems completely bogus to me. I'm sure the bank would accept a George V penny, for example.

[TXBullion]

i think i read something a while back, not everyone has to take them, but someone will always redeem them

[blackrabbit]

This is bull, Canadian banks should have to accept them. If not the mint has pulled a fast one on everyone. I feel like this news now diminishes their value.

[ZenOps]

The bank made an oops. They are supposed to accept them as deposits at face, but may require a "clearing time" to determine the coins legitimacy.

It is nearly impossible to keep track of every coin the mint has made over the years. IE: The ultrarare platinum series, you would have to be crazy to sell it at face value however.

http://www.jandm.com/script/getitem.asp?CID=5&PID=22

If you went into a bank with a $300 coin, would you expect the teller to know right away if it was legit or not? Of course not, that is why non-circulating legal tender needs a verification time, like cheques.

[OtusLotus]

I don't think that the banks are rejecting them because of their "collector value", but rather because they just are uneducated about the coin, and rather than make a mistake that costs the bank $20, they just flatly refuse them.

Rememeber that the US gov't spent hundreds of millions of dollars educating not only the citizens of the US, but also the banks of countries worldwide when they updated our currency?

I also think that because everyone is not running to turn in these coins, it leads to a scarcity of them at the banks, and therefore to the tellers and branch managers. Remember the video of the guy trying to spend the $50 gold coin at Taco Bell?

[Sterling Silver]

This seems like the best bit of free advertising these coins could have hoped for. I flipped two of each of the prior $20 for $20 issues for $35 each on the bay. These may yet reach that demand after all.

[Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay]

Laws are constantly changing and there are now so many laws no human being can keep up with them all. People now ignore laws that are not enforced by the power of the state. There is no compulsion to follow them.

It comes down to enforcement. If you have the power to enforce a law, people will obey it. If not, they will ignore it.

[SilverDragon72]

I don't think that the banks are rejecting them because of their "collector value", but rather because they just are uneducated about the coin, and rather than make a mistake that costs the bank $20, they just flatly refuse them.

Rememeber that the US gov't spent hundreds of millions of dollars educating not only the citizens of the US, but also the banks of countries worldwide when they updated our currency?

I also think that because everyone is not running to turn in these coins, it leads to a scarcity of them at the banks, and therefore to the tellers and branch managers. Remember the video of the guy trying to spend the $50 gold coin at Taco Bell?

A $50 gold coin at Taco Bell??? That must have been one hell of a good burrito

[Robarons]

Well its worrisome because when these came out I was going to buy them for the $20 Face novelty and was going to try to spend them in Canada if I ever crossed the border.

The fact its a Silver investment with 0 risk made it a no brainer. But if I had a stack of these wanted to cash them in, it actually feels like I may encounter problems and will NOT be able get cash back.

This is very concerning. I wonder if I lived in Canada would a Canadian coin shop change a $20 coin for a $20 bill? Or as shop would you even offer to pay a discount to face? Any Canadian coin guys wanna chime in?

[fansubs_ca]

I think it's just a bunch of bank staff not knowing what they are, there are people
working in some banks up here that don't know what a 50 cent piece is. (Because
they don't know they are then mis-informing memebrs of the public including
bussiness owners. -_-) Also it probably doesn't help if the bank fails to make
internet available to their staff to check the mint web site.

I can maybe see a waiting period to verify it's real (though this defeats the
purpose of keeping them as "emergency cash") but there is no reason it should
take CIBC 6 months to figure out if it's real or not.

I'm begining to wonder if people should have to take a "currency familiarity"
exam before being allowed to work in a bank. *_*

The Star's website doesn't seem to want to let me register, maybe someone
here who already has a login or has a facebook account can use that to post
a comment over there linking to Realcent. Encourage anyone that has some
of these and needs to liquidate them quickly to make a post here if there is
anyone in their area that would buy it off them. There is bound to be at least
one of us in each major Canadian city.

[Robarons]

You know werent $500 and $1000 bills regular or at least more common in Canada in terms of circulating until recently?

I mean there is gotta be some ratty bills that go for face- if so would they accept them?

[Oakair]

These aren't worth 20$ in silver!

"The amount of the precious metal is far from token. Each of the Canadian $20 coins weighs 7.96 grams, giving them a melt value equal to about one quarter of an ounce of pure silver."


http://www.silvercoinstoday.com/canadia ... ue/103814/

These coIns are backwards haha...

Why does no one see this

[frugalcanuck]

Im thinking I might try using one of my $20 silver coins as $20. I can go into any LCS and trade them for $20 without a doubt. They are all selling them for $25 - $30. Im sure even pawn shops will take them.

[Treetop]

These coIns are backwards haha...

Why does no one see this

I like them. the idea anyway. If the US had these, and they were easy to get at face, why not have any stash of cash in silver? Seems great to me, if you have reserve cash anyway.

[AGgressive Metal]

The US should make ASE's have a FV of $50 and AGE's at $2,000 - that would be some inflation I could support!