Guy tries to deposit silver coins for face value, bank wouldn't take them
 

First, why would someone buy silver coins and then try to deposit them at the bank? And second, why wouldn't the bank take them? Legal tender is legal tender as far as I know.

Link to article


What’s the difference between legal tender and spending money?

A big headache for a Scarborough man who learned the hard way that banks aren’t obligated to honour collector’s coins at face value, even if they come from the Royal Canadian Mint.

Two months ago 32-year-old Orest Fokine took advantage of a deal on a new silver coin the mint had stamped to commemorate Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee.

The coin retails for $25, but Fokine was able to buy more than 30 of them at their $20 face value.

On Tuesday he needed money quickly, and with no cash at hand he headed to a CIBC branch near Kingston Rd. and Midland Rd. with one of his silver coins, hoping to exchange it for cash or deposit it into his account.

But the teller there told him he could do neither, rejecting Fokine’s silver coin.

When he appealed to the manager he was again told he couldn’t exchange the coin for cash.

When he tried a nearby Royal Bank and Bank of Montreal branches and heard the same answer, he got steamed. He had bought the coin legitimately and had been assured it was legal tender, so he couldn’t figure out why the banks wouldn’t recognize his coin as real money.

“This is the most ridiculous explanation I’ve ever heard in my life,” Fokine says. “Nothing in the description of this coin states it’s not currency.”

So who is right, the customer with the legal tender coin or the banks who kept rejecting it?

They’re both correct, says Royal Canadian Mint Alex Reeves.

He explains all coins produced by the mint are legal tender – meaning they can be exchanged for goods or services at face value – but only circulating legal tender can be readily spent and traded at business and banks.

Non-circulating legal tender refers to items like Fokine’s silver coins and designated collectibles. Reeves says business can accept the money at face value if they choose, but they’re also free to reject it.

“There’s nothing forcing a bank or a business to accept (the coin),” Reeves says. “If someone offers me a gold Maple Leaf (coin) for $50 face value I’d be crazy not to take it, but it’s still a coin that’s not destined for circulation.”

Reeves points out banks all have procedures by which customers can convert collectible coins to cash but acknowledges staff aren’t always aware of them. In that case he suggests having the branch manager call the Mint so they can work through the conversion process.

Managers at the RBC branch Fokine visited have arranged to meet with him to discuss the coin. And by Wednesday afternoon Fokine says CIBC had offered to convert the coin to cash, but only after keeping it on hold for six months.

But on Tuesday Fokine wasn’t aware of those avenues, or that the Mint could have interevened. Out of options, he called a friend and borrowed some cash.

this guy gets the retard of the year award.

edit: did not see metal content. they're numi.

Here's the coin in question:

http://www.canadapost.ca/shop/mc/ass...rge/243961.jpg

Mintage: 250,000 coins worldwide
Face Value: $20
Composition: Pure silver
Weight: 7.96 g
Diameter: 27 mm

Only 8 grams? As far as bullion goes the coin then is only worth around $7. This is the first time I've heard of a modern bullion coin with a face value higher than melt value.

these look like the same as those canoe ones they did last year. they're numismatic pieces.

He should use it to pay a ticket.

So, one must ask, what does it mean for a national mint to mark a coin as "20 DOLLARS", yet not have it be interchangeable with other currency that is also labeled as 20 dollars? If it's really a numi, why label it with a dollar value? This is another example of why the world's fiat "money system" is at risk. It's already bad enough that money can be established by decree, but now even the decree is open for interpretation.

Aaaarrrgh my retinas! Thanks for the WARNING. Kidding aside,

Genuinely unaware? The story reads that way.

Not all legal tender is created equal. The banks deal in fiat and personal aren't trained to transact in hard currency.

It is interchangeable. He bought it with fiat! What value would you like shown? Isn't your time and everyone else's open to consideration? What would you pay the man for his coin? I wouldn't give him a zinc cent for that hag.

Ha, Royal Whoops!!

If it were the U.S. the R.C. mint would go the way of those Liberty Dollars.

I don't think Royal Canadian mint rep Alex Reeves knows what he is talking about. My understanding is that if it is legal tender then that is what it is period. I have heard of businesses getting sued for not accepting payment because they didn't like the money offered (usually change).

Also that is the Fugliest coin I have ever seen.

That's maybe because they have royalty that's not only useless but ugly as hell.

I would buy his collection from him for $5 per coin.

But that's the weird thing about these coins, their bullion value is less than their face value. If he really wanted to get rid of them, it would be better to try and spend them for their nominal $20 face, rather than scrap them to the coin shop for $5-7 each.

The weird thing is that he can't.

I know, and I imagine any of us might run into a similar situation if we tried spending a modern bullion coin for it's face value. But that begs the question, if you can't even spend these legal tender, government issued coins, what's the point of having a denomination on the coin at all?

He's been posting about this at Kitco at:

https://www.kitcomm.com/showthread.php?t=106407

https://www.kitcomm.com/showthread.php?t=106430

Since this coin is made of silver, its not money and we'll not accept it Ha ha! Classic! I can imagine this very same conversation 100 years ago but exactly the opposite. The tables have certainly turned 180 degrees haven't they?

I believe you are correct. Except, this time it's different.

I think the story that started this thread just shows that Canada is a place that's lost its collective sanity.