A coin collector's dream:
A toll taker's nightmare 

When HHB’s treasury team sorts through coins collected from the bridge’s cash lanes, inevitably a handful don’t make the cut.

Whether it’s deliberate or by accident, a few drivers use foreign coins at the tolls instead of Canadian currency as they cross the bridge. American coins are easily sorted, but the remaining change creates a coin conundrum. Most are legal tender somewhere but have no value in Canada. Banks here just aren’t interested in 100 nickels from the Bahamas.

The reject coins were put to the side and the collection grew. This year, budding collectors at HHB were invited to peruse the coins and take any of their choosing.

Reaction was so positive that HHB decided to make the coins a display feature, creating a giant-sized world map to highlight the 105 countries from where coins have been found. The map can be seen at the MACPASS Customer Service Centre. During HHB external events, the map and coins will be on display together, with T-shirts as prizes for anyone who spots a coin from a country not already identified.