Coin collecting in Canada has a secret hiding inside every Coinstar machine at every Walmart in the country. You dump your change in, the machine rejects certain coins because of their weight and calibration, and you pocket them as useless and walk away. Those rejected coins are old silver quarters and they're worth eight to ten dollars each. The machine knew. You didn't. And Michael Findlay, president of the Canadian Association of Numismatic Dealers, has been watching this happen for years.

The internet gave everyone access to coin pricing and a sense that they already know what things are worth, but knowledge and recognition aren't the same thing. The Royal Canadian Mint has issued decades of commemorative colored coins that people buy thinking they're collecting something valuable, and most of it will never be worth much. Meanwhile, Canadian pennies issued between 1922 and 1926 are genuinely expensive and getting harder to find, and the coins most people consider ordinary change are quietly becoming the ones worth chasing. Michael has been in this business since he was six years old, following his coin dealer father to shows, and the gap between what people think they know and what they actually notice hasn't closed as much as the internet would suggest.

Before you dump the piggy bank into a machine, it's worth a few minutes with someone who grew up knowing what to look for. Some of what's in there is worth exactly face value. Some of it is worth considerably more, and the machine will helpfully tell you which is which by handing it back to you.

Topics: coin collecting Canada, numismatic dealers, Coinstar silver coins, Royal Canadian Mint commemorative, rare Canadian pennies

GUEST: Michael Findlay | Canadian Association of Numismatic Dealers

Originally aired on 2026-02-19