The Canadian coin market has remained fairly stable, in the last few months. Collector coins continue to trade at current levels with supply and demand equally balanced. Precious metals have continued their downward slide, but not to the extent we saw earlier in the year. 

Gold bugs remain pleased that gold is above $1,000 an ounce, but disappointed that it has not gone back to higher levels. Silver seems cheap at $14.50 to $15.00 an ounce and premiums are rising for Canadian Maple Leafs. 

Another disruption in the Canadian marketplace is the declining value for the Canadian dollar. When I wrote last, it was hovering around 80 cents U.S. Currently, it is trading below 75 cents U.S. Therefore, it takes $135 Canadian to buy $100 U.S., making it more difficult for Canadians to buy anything in the United States, including coins.

Key-date Canadian coins remain strong, especially in the Very Good to Fine range. The key-date small cents, from 1922 to 1926, are still actively sought after, as want-lists remain long and dealer stocks remain short. 

This holds true for better nickel 5-cent pieces, namely 1925, 1926 Far 6, and 1947 Dot coins. Canadian silver dollars are very active, especially in Extremely Fine to Uncirculated, with demand for all dates from 1935 to 1950, especially the 1945, 1947 Maple Leaf and 1948 coins.

In our continued attempt to add recently issued coins from the Royal Canadian Mint, another 100 items have been added to these pages. 

For just the commemorative $10 coin issues, we added 63 entries. In the coming months, we will continue to update all these recent issues. So get ready! The number of new issues is mind-boggling.

Just after writing my last installment in Coin World, we learned of the death of an important Canadian numismatist — Charles D. Moore of California. He succumbed to a long battle with cancer last June. My deepest condolences to his wife, Leslie, and to his children, Alexandra and Matthew.As an icon in our hobby, he will be sorely missed.