See that? It’s a quarter. More specifically a Canadian quarter commemorating those who have served in wars past (for those outside Canada who aren’t familiar with the poppy symbol and how it ties in, check this out). However, according to United States Defence, it could have been a device used for espionage, utilising nanotechnology no less. Yes.
According to this article (and many others) the U.S. Defence Department was so astonished by the poppy design on the quarter (to be honest, I think Canada was one of the first in the world to use this sort of coloured dye on its coins) that it went under intense scrutiny, under the presumption that they could be used for tracing American “contractors” (aka agents – and by the way, when will such linguistically neutered stupidity end? A contractor hires a plumber to fix the kitchen sink, not air-dropped in the desert to create an uprising of local tribesmen) who pocketed them.
This is obviously very, very silly. Worse still, it’s indicative of such a ludicrously paranoid environment that it scares me to think what else has been flagged by the USDD? Migratory birds? Snow? Maple syrup?
The US probably wanted to steal the patent. Yes, the Royal Canadian Mint developped the technology to imprint colour on coins, and does press coins for other countries. However, the US is not allowed by law to use a foreign mint for coinage (hence the famous US penny that costs more to make than its face value). I bet they just wanted to figure out how to imprint the Stars and Stripes on their money.