Went browsing through an online coinshop (yes i know for a fact it exists and has a physical shop) and came across a list of W mint mark coins they offer. "COIN"veniently they don't have any pictures to show. The Charlton Standard don't have anything on it. It only list the P mint mark that became standard in 2000 or so. I've never heard of this mint mark let alone come across one. The W coins they have seems to be reasonably priced and sometime the same as face value. I mean if I was ordering something else I may as well get some of these since they have a flat shipping rate. There are a few W coins on ebay but also the pictures don't show much at all. SO. When have they started using the W mint mark? Is it pretty common? Coz i've never seen any. Is it worth investing? Speaking of the W winnipeg mint mark, anyone know what year circulation coins were exclusively minted in Winnipeg? I know it was open in 1967 or something but was there a period of transition when both the Ottawa and Winnipeg mints were minting circulation coins? Can one say today that circulation coins were minted exclusively at Winnipeg? I know Ottawa focuses on collectors coins, but are there items that were minted in Winnipeg? ie: the coloured quarters? Thanks,
'W' is indeed the mintmark of the Royal Canadian Mint at Winnipeg.The 'P' on a Canadian coin is not a mintmark.It is a mark indicating that the coin is made of a plated metal.I have got 2 Canadian 2001 5c. coins.The one without the 'P' is the cupro-nickel one,whereas,the one with the 'P' is the nickel-plated steel one,which is why it is so shiny. As to the Ottawa branch of the Royal Canadian Mint,it is used only for striking the silver & gold Maple Leaf bullion coinage. Aidan.
Charlton does list info on the "W" mintmark if you know where to look. The W mintmark was used for the uncirculated set, and used in the years when they made the sets at both the Ottawa and Winnipeg mints. "W" is Winnipeg and "O" or no mintmark is for Ottawa. If you find a single coin with a "W" it means it came from uncirculated set. These set sell below issue price, so a single is not worth to much more than face. P.S if you have the 59th edition of Charlton the info is on page 373
Yeah thanks defiant7. I did end up finding the said W mintmark on the copy of the 59th edition Charlton borrowed from the library. I just find it strange that the dealer would break up the set and sell the coins individually. The value of these set has mostly appreciated (even though not by much) from their original issue prices. They'd lose much more by selling them individually right? Because as a set they cost much more than the combined face value of the coins included. Can i expect these W/O coins to be in original BU grade when I buy them individually?
If you find W/O coin at a dealer it should be in BU condition. There are a few reason why somebody would break open the set like somebody only wants one of the coins or one of the coins was damaged so they try sell each coin individual. Also there are also themed packaged Brilliant Uncirculated that came in cardboard, the cardboard could easily get damaged and thus making it difficult to sell as set.
