My Royal Canadian Mint Coins

January 23, 2012 4:41 PM

Taxali is not my original last name. It was changed 300 years ago to Taxali by a Maharaja in India. My ancestor invented a coin that was difficult to counterfeit and was subsequently knighted Taxali by the Maharaja.  It means, "Maker or Steward of The Mint".  How serendipitous!!  Here I am, 300 years later, honouring my ancestor's achievements and mine and my sister's family name. via [Drawn]
posted by unliteral (20 comments total)

Huzzah! I want to get a whole bagful of the wedding coins and give them with wedding presents.
posted by ocherdraco at 5:02 PM on January 23

I've always, always hated every Canadian quarter that didn't have a caribou on it. Always. Every last one.

I do not hate these.
posted by Sys Rq at 5:04 PM on January 23

Taxali is not my original last name. It was changed 300 years ago to Taxali by a Maharaja in India.

This sounds like the opening lines to a Bollywood version of Highlander, and I would watch that like a 14-year-old at a Titanic marathon.
posted by Snarl Furillo at 5:44 PM on January 23 [10 favorites]

Am I a bad person for thinking these aren't very good coins?
posted by Malor at 6:20 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

They look like if you gave them a little squeeze they'd make a little >squeak<.
posted by benito.strauss at 6:32 PM on January 23

I'm going to look out for these. They do come in chocolate, don't they?
posted by arcticseal at 6:44 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

The look isn't my cup of tea, but it doesn't look like those are meant for circulation so it's not as if my life will be ruined by them.

Of course, for every pretty coin there is always one that makes me go 'huh'?
posted by Salmonberry at 7:02 PM on January 23

This is super super unclear.

So he's some random designer, and he got to design actual coins that will be legit Canadian money? Or is it more like one of those "Twin towers/eagle/firefighter" "may not appreciate in value" commemorative coins?

I can't really parse it from the blog, and the text quoted here sounds like a setup for a 419 scheme.
posted by drjimmy11 at 7:18 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

As best I can tell, articseal, these are Limited Edition, which I believe means that you and I aren't likely to encounter these coins in daily commerce.

I was a bit taken aback when I came across this line: It was a big struggle for me to depict a man and woman in the institution of marriage because I kept getting sucked into clichés and nothing felt strong compared to the other coin designs.

"Wait a frikken second," I thought, "what makes you think that's a valid definition of marriage in Canada". But his brain cells rebooted, and so it's pretty cool that, so far at least, none of the troglodytes in the Harper junta have seized on the design as an excuse to commence a round of bigot-pandering.

My suspicion is that there likely would be a hullabaloo about this were these coins to put into general circulation.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 7:19 PM on January 23

The Mint is a Crown Corporation drjimmy11, and issues our coins. Naturally, they have their eye on the bottom line, as is prudent. But they are nothing like the Franklin Mint or the for-profit American
penal system. On the scale of public privatization, they probably fall somewhere quite a bit such long-accepted Canadian institutions as power supply or ferry services.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 7:33 PM on January 23

"quite a bit below" is what I meant to say. Cripes.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 7:36 PM on January 23

I love Taxali's work, but the shininess of the quarters just seems wrong. They should have commissioned him to design a scratched up half-green tarnished penny.
posted by Kabanos at 7:54 PM on January 23 [3 favorites]

The state quarters here in the US have been a lot of fun. I hope enough of these make it into circulation that people get to spend them.
posted by maryr at 8:05 PM on January 23

So he's some random designer, and he got to design actual coins that will be legit Canadian money? Or is it more like one of those "Twin towers/eagle/firefighter" "may not appreciate in value" commemorative coins?

It's legitimate, and the CBC reports that these will enter circulation. We have a lot of unusual coin in circulation, actually.
posted by mobunited at 8:14 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

As best I can tell, articseal, these are Limited Edition, which I believe means that you and I aren't likely to encounter these coins in daily commerce.

Yeah, this. To quote the article: "circulation of about 20,000". Compare: Wikipedia says the Mint makes 450,000 50¢ pieces per year; when did you last see one of those? So, yeah, real legal tender, but rare enough that people will look at you funny if you ever actually try to use any.

We have a lot of unusual coin in circulation, actually.

Too true. I just rolled a bunch of change the other day, and commemorative quarters were at least as common as regular ones, with a good dozen hideous designs. Plus, it means you get a lot of weird change. I've received UAE dirham and Chinese yuan in place of the caribou (fine; I can afford to lose a quarter once in awhile, and, hey, it's exotic) but, oddly, almost no American quarters in recent years. Thank god arcades are dead, or we'd be getting tokens all the time.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:05 PM on January 23

I haven't seen an elk quarter in a coon's age. All Canadian quarters are "special edition" now. Kind of cheapens the idea, I always thought, but I suppose I might be a party pooper. Also since the RC mint was privatized, they've snuck their logo onto all of them, which is also sort of off-putting.
posted by thrind at 9:32 PM on January 23

He and his amazing coins (and other work) were on The National last night! He's a cutie too. Loved the story around the marriage coin.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 11:12 PM on January 23

I haven't seen an elk quarter in a [long time].

Neither have I. In fact, I've never seen a quarter with an elk on it. Does such a thing exist?
posted by Sys Rq at 11:15 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

The ice-cream cone being carried away by balloons is one of the best coins ever. I envy the archaeologist who in 3,000 years' time gets to dig one of those up and speculate about the civilisation that produced it.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 12:03 AM on January 24 [1 favorite]

speculate about the civilisation that produced it.
I too thought about this set of designs. So quirky.
posted by unliteral at 3:27 AM on January 24