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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Turned out, their cup of coffee was as good as gold

By: Geoff Kirbyson

Posted: 10/23/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies) | Last Modified: 10/25/2010 3:09 PM | Updates

Kristine Friesen (left) holds a shiny loonie while Tim Hortons worker Samantha Bell holds the gold coin. (KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

Kristine Friesen may have bought one of the most expensive cups of coffee of all time.

The Riverview resident and her husband thought nothing of their visit to the Tim Hortons location at Pembina Highway and Grant Avenue on Wednesday. She ordered tea and a bagel while Harry ordered coffee.

The bill came to about $3, so Kristine reached into her purse, pulled out a toonie and a loonie and they sat down to enjoy their drinks.

Kristine went to bed early that night but when she got up the next morning, she found out Harry had been up late looking high and low for a gold coin he had left with his change on the coffee table the day before.

After retracing their steps, she realized with horror that she had likely used the $100 gold coin at Tim Hortons.

"I thought the loonie looked kind of shiny but I didn't really think about it. It stuck in my mind, though," she said.

The wayward coin nearly made it into general circulation as change for a subsequent customer but an alert cashier noticed it and brought it back to Greg Mikolajek, owner of the store.

"She said, 'I think I got ripped off,' " he said.

Mikolajek, a novice coin collector, regularly rounds up the non-Canadian money the shop brings in and buys it for himself. He uses the U.S. change on trips south of the border and he puts coins from other countries, such as Mexico, Cuba or even Europe, in a box.

At first, he thought the coin was a special-edition loonie, such as the one celebrating the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. On closer inspection, he knew that couldn't be the case because the coin was minted in 1976. The Royal Canadian Mint didn't start producing loonies until 1987.

"It's the exact same size of a loonie. You'd never know the difference, it's just a little heavier," he said.

Mikolajek thought about getting it back into the hands of the owner but realized that would be impossible unless somebody came forward.

"If I said we have a lost $100 coin, we'd have 3,000 people here to collect it," he said.

Abe Nuss, manager of A.B. Coins & Collectables, said from the description of the coin, he believes it's worth about $350. He said the mint produced two gold $100 coins in 1976, a 14-carat version that's about the size of a loonie and a 22-carat piece that's a little bigger and thicker than a nickel. The latter is worth about $700. The mint continues to make the $100 gold coin to this day, although the gold content is lower than it used to be, he said.

On Thursday, one of Mikolajek's employees came into the back of the store and asked if anybody had turned in a $100 coin. Mikolajek went to the front counter and found Harry Friesen brandishing a small protective case where the front plastic piece was compressed with an outline of a coin.

"It was the Cinderella story, the slipper fit," Mikolajek said. "I told him I had it at home but if he came back (Friday) he'd be a very happy guy."

Harry was ecstatic to have the coin back. He doesn't want to risk getting it mixed up with regular change again so he's going to put it in a safety deposit box.

But the gold coin wasn't the only legal tender to change hands on Friday.

"I said to Harry, 'Don't forget, you still owe them a loonie,' " Kristine said.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 23, 2010 A3

History

Updated on Monday, October 25, 2010 at 3:09 PM CDT: Changes ounces to carats

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