Everyone I know has loose change in their pockets, purse or cup holder in their car! As kids we loved when our Dad would fall asleep on the sofa and all his change would end up under the cushions! We would use this to buy “penny” candy on the way home from school.

Today there NO Pennie’s in Canada! It was costing the government more to make a penny than they were worth….one cent! People were hoarding Pennie’s until they had enough to exchange for dollars. The average household was said to have between 600-2000 pennies, which when converted was still only $6-$20! To compensate having no Pennie’s , this meant that everything you bought was rounded up or down to the nearest nickel.

The Canadian Penny

Then we stopped producing the dollar bill because it’s shelf live was about 20 years! This is when we got our famous dollar coin which affectionately became known as the “Loonie” because of the Canadian Loon on the obverse side of the coin, and if that wasn’t enough , then came the “Toonie” which replaced the two dollar bill! Many tailors were reinforcing men’s pants pockets to carry all that weight!

The “Loonie” and the “Toonie”

I found it much easier AND faster to save money with these new coins instead of Pennies. In a short time I had $20-$30 in a jar! My granddaughters would count and sort them for me ( a mathematical test) and I would share some with them.
I am always finding “loose” change , or as I call them …”lost” change” on the sidewalks and in parking lots. A few weeks ago I found a Toonie. It was a different looking Toonie. It was black and gold in colour, not the usual silver and gold. Thinking that it had somehow been discoloured by a chemical reaction, I kept it separate from my usual finds.

In doing research for this challenge , I discovered that the black Toonie was minted in 2022 to commemorate the death of Queen Elisabeth. It is referred to as a Mourning or a Death coin.

I have never seen another one….but my eyes are peeled when I walk!