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Searching your couch for pennies could pay off

Feb 5, 2013 | 5:40 AM

The Royal Canadian Mint stopped distributing pennies Monday, but some of the one cent coins in your change might still be worth a pretty penny.

“We wish we would see more of them, because people are taking coins to the bank that are scarce,” said Gary Meckling, a coin collector and owner of Sceptre Coin and Stamp in Saskatoon.

He said there are some specific one cent pieces to keep an eye out for.

“If you were looking for one cent pieces from the 1920s, you'd be looking for 1922, 1923 and 1925,” he said, adding those would sell for about $20 each.

He said the jackpot would be to find a one cent piece from 2005.

“The rarest one cent piece that's available is a 2005, non-magnetic coin … that has a 'P' below the Queen's neckline.”

Meckling said those could be worth as much as $1,000. Other coins he said to search your couch for include pennies from 1948 and 1949 where the bumps around the rim of the coin, known as denticles, are different sizes.

Also, some one cent coins from the 1950s have changes to the Queen's gown where there is or isn't a shoulder fold in the dress. That was due to the Mint's chief engraver, Thomas Shingles, changing the design of her gown because the fold initially did not show up well on the coins.

Meckling got into coin collecting in 1957 when he was a boy scout. He said he got his stamp collecting and coin collecting badges as a kid and then eventually opened up this store in Saskatoon in the early 1970s. He said although we commonly call our current one cent coin a penny, that's not correct.

“Canada made pennies back in Upper and Lower Canada. We had half pennies and one pennies and they were quite a large coin,” Meckling said.

“The penny was discontinued in Canada in 1857 and then in the year of 1858, still as a colonial, we made a one cent piece. Then, in Confederation, we've had one cent pieces ever since.”

If you think you have a valuable one cent piece, he said he welcomes you to bring it in, just don't bring your entire bucket.

“They have to sort them out. I'm not going to sort out two million one cent pieces,” he smiled.

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