Gold (Etc.) In Montreal

We are here in Montreal on vacation.  Canada is, of course, a major producer of gold, and I was curious to see if fractional ounce gold coins are easier to get here than in the USA.  My limited experience so far is yes, maybe a little easier.

I went to the following paces to inquire:

-- 4 foreign exchange shops
-- Kitco (more comments below)
-- Scotia bank
-- a coin dealer

Two of the four exchange places sold gold, you could see what they had on offer behind the bulletproof glass.  Both sold 1/4 oz Maple Leafs, only one sold 1/10 oz.  The shop that did not sell 1/10s did sell small bars (10 gram) from different suppliers.

Here are three Maples I bought, with our keys to our room for scale:

They are two 1/4 oz Maples (1997 and 2013, they changed the picture of the Queen) and a 1/10 oz in the plastic holder.  Prices: $400 for the 1/4 oz pieces and $160 for the 1/10 (both prices in Canadian dollars).  Compare recent price for 1/10 Eagles in the USA: $185 (OK, the price of gold was perhaps $20 higher, so $2.00 for the higher US price), so buying fractionals in Canada is worth it...

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Kitco (the famous supplier of precious metals prices online that many gold sellers use) has their headquarters here in Montreal: 620 Cathcart St., Suite 900 in the heart of the city.

I went to take a look, they only had offices with a small display of PMs.  One was a 10 oz bar of gold, there was also a 100 oz silver bar that was recovered from the World Trade Center after 9/11.  They only sold 1 oz Maple Leafs, no fractionals.  The rest of Kitco was normal looking offices that I was not invited to see.  Not very friendly, but I did not call ahead for an appointment either.

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Kitco referred me to Scotia Bank for fractionals, I had earlier seen Scotia mentioned somewhere as a place to buy gold.  They said, yes they could sell it, but I had to wait a week or two...

Finally, I saw a coin shop while walking around.  Most of his business (like in the USA) was for numismatic pieces.  He only sold 1 oz Maples, no fractionals.  He DID say that fractionals are getting hard to get now, which is my experience in the USA.

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So my best judgement, at least for the moment, is that small gold bullion coins are a bit easier to get in Canada.  Just in case you wanted to know.

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Montreal is a nice place to visit!  Fortunately for me (as my French is pretty bad), almost everyone, who deals with tourists anyway, speaks English as well.

Coffee is big here!  We had a chance to try coffee from three chains so far, here are our preliminary reviews:

-- Tim Horton's (their biggest chain): coffee is good, snacks not so much
-- Cafe Presse: stronger coffee, they let you read newspapers there...
-- The Second Cup: three "strengths" of coffee, my wife liked their capuccino