King Charles coins

News: Welcome to the Canadian Paper Money Forum.

I am wondering why there was only a limited number of King Charles coins for each denomination last December.  Could it have been due to many banks in Canada (particularly Atlantic Canada) having a huge inventory of unreleased coins with the Queen on them not being issued fast enough?  Or could it be due to banks preparing to close branches due to declining traffic (like Scotiabank has in Newfoundland in recent years, and eight are scheduled to close this year - at least two have closed already this year in fact) and the branches may be phasing out cash orders in preparation for converting to digital branches?

The low volume of 2023 dated King Charles coins is influenced by many factors, such as:

1.  The late changeover to the new King Charles obverse in November 2023. The RCM did not issue any circulation coinage featuring the late Queen dated 2023 but instead issued double dated 1952-2022 coins as non-circulating legal tender. 

2.  The overall demand for new coins in the economy.

3.  The large stockpile of previously issued new coins from 2022. (As you stated).  It is probable that the RCM DID continue to mint 2022 dated coins with Queen Elizabeth featured on them between September-December 2022.

I believe that because of the short run time of the 2023 dated Charles coins, they will be more desirable than 2024 dated coins.

The demand for coins comes from the economy as a whole, not due the decision of one or more of the chartered banks to reduce the number of branches.

Best,
Dean

The low volume of 2023 dated King Charles coins is influenced by many factors, such as:

1.  The late changeover to the new King Charles obverse in November 2023. The RCM did not issue any circulation coinage featuring the late Queen dated 2023 but instead issued double dated 1952-2022 coins as non-circulating legal tender. 

2.  The overall demand for new coins in the economy.

3.  The large stockpile of previously issued new coins from 2022. (As you stated).  It is probable that the RCM DID continue to mint 2022 dated coins with Queen Elizabeth featured on them between September-December 2022.

I believe that because of the short run time of the 2023 dated Charles coins, they will be more desirable than 2024 dated coins.

The demand for coins comes from the economy as a whole, not due the decision of one or more of the chartered banks to reduce the number of branches.

Best,
Dean

+1
Dean sums it up perfectly here in GTA & likely most of Ontario.  A bank teller just informed me that they had not ordered new KCIII coins & would unlikely order them for sometime due to their high stock & lack of demand. ALSO, any grocery store which hasn't been converted to self-check out is being converted. Even our thrift stores have been converted- all designed to eliminate the use of cash.

That could also explain the lack of Lane-Macklem $20s in Ontario thus far, it seems.

Also, the one thing that would need to be adjusted for the King Charles III coins is vending machines.  It's bad enough vending machines do not accept commemorative toonies and quarters.

I have only just started seeing coins with the king this month. Spotted a nickel, a quarter, and a loonie in my pocket change recently.

Another thing to consider about 2023 KC coins is ... QEII died on September 22nd and (according to the RCM website) it took time for 4 submissions of Charles busts to be designed and a final to be chosen, re-tooling, etc. before any Charles coins went into production in December. As a "coin factory', I would think that the RCM has a fairly tight run schedule, and the need/protocol to mint at least some Charles coins within the same year that he became King was probably not something that was planned for, so they did as many as they could given the very short time in which they had to do it. 

Does anyone know firm numbers of 2023 KC coins minted?  Last I heard is they didn't differentiate between QE and KC and just issued a total of both.

I'm confused about this ...

The RCM did not issue any circulation coinage featuring the late Queen dated 2023 but instead issued double dated 1952-2022 coins as non-circulating legal tender.

I have seen 2023 coins in almost all denominations with QEII on them, so?