Canada Remembers, Americans Fear Espionage

In November 2004 the Canadian Mint issued the world's first colourized coin. It was a quarter with a blood red poppy on the rear. It commemorated 90 years since the start of World War One.

The poppy is a Legion trademark. Millions of them are distributed across the country every year from the last Friday in October until Remembrance Day on the 11th.

The poppy quarter was released in November on purpose, rolls of them were sent to banks across the country and Legions were encouraged to purchase rolls of them to help promote the remembrance theme of the poppy. My own branch purchased several rolls and on Remembrance Day those purchasing at the bar were given change with the poppy quarters.

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For us, they were a novelty. The government honouring our fallen through the Canadian Mint. The 30million circulated quarters would disperse out like any other coin and other than some collectors keeping them, would be largely unnoticed in a few weeks.

US Contractors in Canada

They would have been except for US Army contractors working in Canada. They started coming across the coins and found, what was to them, an odd appearance to be suspicious. So suspicious they filed confidential espionage reports to their superiors after finding them between 2005 and 2006.

The Canadian Mint used a protective coating on the coins to prevent the coloured poppy from rubbing off the quarter during regular use. For the contractors, that coating was far more suspicious:

They described the coins as "anomalous" and "filled with something man-made that looked like nano-technology." One U.S. contractor wrote after he found it in a cup holder of a car he was in "It did not appear to be electronic (analog) in nature or have a power source," "Under high power microscope, it appeared to be complex consisting of several layers of clear, but different material, with a wire like mesh suspended on top." Source

Espionage Alert Issued

Without closely examining the coins the US Defense Department issued an espionage warning that the coins were radio frequency transmitters. What followed was a flurry of emails between officials speculating about possible involvement by the Canadians in the espionage.

It took the Americans until 2007 before they cancelled the alert having finally realized the coin was just that, a coin.

First Reports Met With Disbelief

When the first reports of the alert surfaced in Canadian media, most people thought it was some sort of prank. The Americans really couldn’t be that paranoid that they would think a simple quarter would be espionage? Well, turns out that at least for a while, they were.

Canada Continues to Issue Colourized Coins

Meanwhile the Canadian Mint continues to issue remembrance coins, some of them colourized.

In 2008 the poppy quarter was reissued to commemorate 90 years since the Armistace to end WW1:

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In 2010 this quarter was issued to commemorate 65 years since the end of WW2:

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In 2015 a group of coins was issued to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the writing of In Flanders Fields.

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The outside coins are quarters and the centre coin is the Canadian two dollar coin known as a Toonie. It depicts Major McCrae writing his famous poem. You can learn more about the poem here.

Other coins have been colourized to mark other events in Canada. Also in 2015 the Canadian Mint issued a quarter to mark 50 years since Canada adopted the distinctive red maple leaf as our national flag:

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It’s nice to know our mint can continue to be innovative without our closest neighbours going into panic about espionage.

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