An odd-looking Canadian quarter with a bright red flower was the culprit behind a false espionage warning from the Defense Department about mysterious coins with radio frequency transmitters, The Associated Press has learned.

The harmless “poppy quarter” was so unfamiliar to suspicious U.S. Army contractors traveling in Canada that they filed confidential espionage accounts about them. The worried contractors described the coins as “filled with something man-made that looked like nano-technology,” according to once-classified U.S. government reports and e-mails obtained by the AP.

The silver-colored 25-cent piece features the red image of a poppy

Yeah, that was the most asinine thing ever. Especially since if Canada really did have “spy coins”, I’m sure they wouldn’t colour them red with a big embossed poppy on them. I would imagine they would go for a design that wouldn’t draw quite so much attention to itself.

I would love to have one for my cabinet of strange things.

I’ll send you one, they are still in wide circulation. The red paint is worn off most of the ones that pass through my hands though, just bits and flecks in the crevices left.

A coin with a red poppy on it? That’s awesome. Way to go Canada!

Gotta get me one of them.

Seriously, why would the Canadian government
a) Put nanotechnological espionage gear in wide-circulation coins in their own country and
b) Stick a big red poppy on it- possibly the most obvious thing you could?

Exactly my point

Red poppies are everywhere here, people wear them on their lapels (fake ones) for about a month preceding Rememberance Day. It’s because of John McCrae’s poem In Flanders Field. I live in the town he was born in, so you really see them here. I’m actually trying to grow them this year but I’‘m not optimistic about them surviving.

*mail send to MadCarlotta*

The quarters aren’t nearly as cool as they sound, most of the time it just looks like there’s a big red dot on it, it doesn’t look like a poppy.

A very nice design. It’s actually the first time I’ve seen a one with paint (as part of the design ).

And about poppies, here in Flanders fields, they’re growing everywhere, especially between the train tracks on the line I’m commuting. And with the warm temperatures of last couple of weeks, some are already blooming.

FrostBird - 11 May 2007 06:33 PM

And about poppies, here in Flanders fields, they’re growing everywhere….

Yes, I’ve heard that they they grow there, especially between crosses row on row  

MadCarlotta - 11 May 2007 01:17 PM

I’ll send you one, they are still in wide circulation. The red paint is worn off most of the ones that pass through my hands though, just bits and flecks in the crevices left.

Oooh, could I have one too, please?
I collect old, foreign and commemorative coins.

Madmouse - 11 May 2007 10:20 PM

Oooh, could I have one too, please?
I collect old, foreign and commemorative coins.

*raises hand*
Me too, please?

*looks beseeching*