The New Toonie

Have you seen the new toonie? (for those non-Canadians who might be reading this, the "toonie" is the two dollar coin we have here in Canada.)  The Royal Canadian Mint has issued a series of new coins to commemorate Canada's 150th anniversary.

This coin is described as follows: " The $2 coin, designed by British Columbia resident Dr. Timothy Hsia, features a pair of paddlers dwarfed by a night sky alive with the ever-shifting movement of the Northern Lights. ‘Dance of the Spirits' is the world’s very first glow-in-the-dark circulation coin."

I'm a bit skeptical about the glow in the dark claim, as I tested out the coin I have, trying to get a photo, and it didn't seem to be working! :(   Maybe it needs to somehow soak up light first before the glow will work, whereas I pulled mine out of a dark room.  Nevertheless, I really like the new design.

Okay, I left it out in the light for about five minutes and then took this picture - you can see a bit of the glow! I expect if I left it longer, it would be much more apparent but I'm too impatient!

According to this article, 3 million of these coins are being released into circulation. I am expecting that most people will keep them when they come across one, so when my 13 year old cousin offered to sell me this one for $3 on the weekend, I jumped at the chance.  Her mother was appalled that I would offer a whole dollar over the value of the coin itself and that her daughter would accept the profit but we were both very happy with our trade!

Day 77/100 - #100dayproject