Cool Cash

Canadian currency has become interesting in the past few years. Coins are colorful and commemorative in many ways. This year at Canada Post I found gift sets of coins (lacking pennies for the first time in Canadian history) to acknowledge weddings and births of 2013. At $19.95CDN (+ 15% HST, i.e., harmonized sales tax), these gifts are a pretty solid money-maker, as the combined total of the coins ($2 + $1 + .25. + .10 + .05 = $3.40) plus the expense of the card, plastic sleeve, and envelope surely amounts to far less than the $19.95 price. The set for babies includes a quarter with a pair of little bare feet on the reverse; the wedding set quarter has a pair of intertwined rings. Perhaps in the distant future these sets will accrue some value. But what catches my eye even more than the images is the inscription in Latin around the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse of every Canadian coin: ELIZABETH II D. G. REGINA, standing for ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA, translated ELIZABETH II QUEEN BY THE GRACE OF GOD. A Canadian dollar is a coin with a loon on the reverse; they are known as loonies. The newer two-dollar coin therefore has the nickname of toonies. I keep a handful of toonies, loonies, quarters, dimes, nickels, and now outmoded pennies on my desk at school for instant access to international, current Latin.