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North Bay Stamp & Coin

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North Bay, ON
North Bay Stamp & Coin

The ONLY coin and stamp store that is open to the public. Specialize in philatelic and numismatics.

07/07/2026

From the vault today we have a very interesting piece from Canada’s past. This medallion was struck in 1917 in honour of the fiftieth anniversary of the confederation of Canada, designed by Toronto jeweller and Die sinker ‘P.W. Ellis’ and struck at the royal canadian mint, who also packaged and distributed these, as you can see from the box which still houses this medal. To find a medal like this, in such high grade, is difficult for more than one reason. There is the obvious reasons, age, the fact that it’s made from very soft metal which reacts quite strong to moisture and environmental issues, but also for a reason many don’t really know or have even considered.
In 1917, when the 50th anniversary of confederation came around, many Canadians were over seas in Europe fighting in the ‘Great War’ and many back at home were dealing with the domestic issues that came with it. Because of this, the amount of semi-centennial celebration related items produced in small quantities and amounts than were issued in 1927 for the 60th anniversary of confederation, including an official medallion that was given to every school aged child in the country. One wonders if such a piece would’ve been made for the 50th anniversary too, had global circumstances been different. Take a look.

06/24/2026

Two more medieval gold pieces for your viewing pleasure. Here we two Byzantine gold ‘Hyperpyrons’ struck between 1295-1320 in Constantinople during the Co-regency of Andronikos II and his brother Michael IX. I have elected to put the reverse of the coin as the first image, which shows the two rulers kneeling before Jesus, who is placing a crown on each of their heads, with minor differences between the two reverses, mainly in the arching of Jesus’s arms, and the direction the two rulers are facing. The reverse shows the Virgin Mary stood within a stylized version of the walls of Constantinople, with two letters, one on each side of her. Many of you may have a hard time deciphering the obverse design as the unique method of striking these coins would leave whichever side was struck first heavily distorted (notice the bottle cap like convex of the flan.)
What differentiates these guys from yesterday’s coin is that these coins were struck on flans of ‘Debased’ gold, approximately 50% or 12 karat gold, however earlier issued hyperpyron coins struck during prior reigns were of higher purity.
One last thing to note is that the smaller more circular example has actually been clipped post minting, and weighs approximately a half gram less than the more oblong example, which likely would have rendered the coin unusable, or at the very least, would lead to merchants only excepting it at a discounted rate. Take a look.

06/23/2026

And now for something completely different. Today from the collection we have this wonderful piece of medieval gold. Struck in Venice between the years 1343-1354 AD under the ‘Dogeship’ of Andrea Dandolo, 54th Doge of Venice (Doge was the title given for the highest authority during the Venetian republic) and is valued at 1 ‘ducato’ or 1 ‘Zecchino’. Gold Coins like this were very important not just for the elite class, but for international trade as well, as silver coins would be debased as prices of silver climbed, however coins like these had a set standard amount of gold, and received little to none of its value from a decree or otherwise, so the weight and purity (approximately 3.5 grams of 99.5% pure gold) would be kept even as the silver fractional coins continued to have more and more silver removed.
The designs, though a bit amateurish looking, are a wonderful example of pre Renaissance die engraving. With St. Mark stood and the Doge of Venice kneeling down on the front, and a full body depiction of Jesus Christ with a halo surrounded by a ring of stars on the reverse. A simple, but very favourable design choice for both the religious leaning people and the growing renaissance art movement for which this coin would be an large inspiration. Take a look.

06/22/2026

Here we have something very special. Most coins struck during the Great Depression were, to quote a many collector “Used and Abused”, and given the economic hardships of the time, weren’t very plentiful to begin with. So it is a challenge for collectors to find sharp examples of certain years of certain denominations during this era, especially within the silver coins, which all adds up to what makes this coin such a rarity. Graded Mint State 66 by PCGS this coin very possibly never saw commerce, and likely spent a good number of years in a drawer or a bank bag in a vault, or perhaps a collector who just had some foresight put this piece aside, knowing the mintages and survival rates would be quite low. However it survived, it is an amazing opportunity to see a coin of this type in such a grade. Take a look!

06/18/2026

Today we have something quite special. From Saxony Germany, dating back over 400 years is this wonderful silver Thaler dated 1608.
On the front, armed with a sword is ‘Christian II’ of Saxony, from the Albertine line of the ‘House of Wettin’, and whom served as Administrator for the ‘Diocese of Naumburg-Zeitz’. On the Reverse dawned in Armour are Christian’s two younger brothers, ‘John George’ and ‘Augustus’, of whom both would go on to succeed their Big brother, with Augustus succeeding Christian, and John George Succeeding Augustus.
For us today it is quite difficult to conceive just how large an amount of money this was. For the average person in Germany at the time, a wage of 4-8 Pfennigs (old German equivalent of a penny) a day was already above average, and that someone needed 288 Pfennigs to equate 1 Thaler, one can quickly see that the purchasing power of this coin absolutely dwarfed most of the largest denomination currencies in circulation today, combine that with the fact that for most people, financial transactions rarely exceeded 1 Pfennig and it helps put things into perspective. Take a look!

06/17/2026

Today from the collection we brought something a bit simpler. A humble Shilling from the first full year of King Edward VII (1902). Typically for most monarchs the coins of their first year tend to be minted in high numbers and also have high survival rates due do people hanging on to them as a keepsake for the new era, and this piece here is no exception. Take a Look!

06/16/2026

Today from the collection we have brought out a coin that tries and succeeded in being 2 coins. Originally minted in Mexico City, which was still under Spanish control, in 1802 as an 8 Reale, and likely sat in a bank bag for the first decades of its existence. Until that is, in 1834, when a royal decree in Portugal changed how foreign silver coins would circulate in their domain, and in addition to this, the Portuguese government acquired bags of silver coins from various nations in the Spanish empire and over-struck them with the Portuguese Coat of arms to show they were apart of the new system, which is how the coin we have here came to be. After only a few years these coins disappeared as they were cashed in when Portugal started striking new coins under the new system, and many of these counter stamped piece were melted down. The piece here seems to have circulated very briefly before being put away, thus saving it from recycling, Take a look.

06/15/2026

From the collection today we have a really interesting piece of early canadiana. From the Township formally known as ‘Ramsay’ We have an 1851 dated lead communion token given to members of the congregation at St Andrew’s Church at the village of Almonte, which was headed by reverend John M. Macmorine (1799 - May 1867) from 1846 to 1867. Pieces like this were given to members of the congregation to promote the church, and as a show of what Christian Sect the individual fell under. Communion tokens account for some of the oldest tokens in British North America, with some dating as far back as before the 1760s, but eventually fell out of popularity after confederation, typically only being used in unincorporated and isolated areas far from urban life. Take a look!

06/11/2026

And we think we would be doing you all a disservice if we didn’t share the “sister” of yesterday’s stamp. Here we have another colour trial, this one being on the previous stamp in the catalogue, # 18, or in this trials case # 18TC, which like yesterday’s stamp was printed to test how different shades would appear and react to the environment etc etc, however unlike yesterday’s stamp, this shade (Blue Green) actually ended up being used on the second printing of # 18 in 1864/5. Also different is opposed to yesterday’s stamp is that this example was printed on thick ‘India Paper’, which is almost like card stock. Take a look.

06/10/2026

And in keeping with stamp history we have to share with you today a very scare 1867 “Pale Blue” colour trial of Canada Stamp # 19 (catalogue number for this colour trial being # 19TC) which was part of what is called the ‘First Cents Issue’ as it was the first time stamps in Canada were issued in values of the Canadian dollar, but also retaining its equivalent value in British Pounds. Unlike earlier issues, stamp # 19 was issued with perforations akin to modern stamps, but colour trials and proof/specimen printings were done imperferate. Though the decided on a more greyish ‘slate blue’ shade, these colour trials can be matched up to official finalized stamps by comparing certain printing details and plate faults (like the mole on Jacques Cartier’s cheek, which only appears on one stamp per sheet of 100). Take a look!

Address

Suite 107, 222 McIntyre Street West
North Bay, ON
P1B2Y8

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+17054745448

Website

http://www.northbaystampandcoin.com/, https://www.ebay.ca/str/northbaystampcoin

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