The Royal Canadian Mint's newly released glow-in-the-dark toonie honouring the 50th anniversary of Toronto's CN Tower sold out at mint retail outlets and participating Canada Post locations within hours of Sunday morning availability, with collectors lining up before dawn in Toronto, Ottawa, and Vancouver. The coin, which features a luminescent silhouette of the tower visible in darkness, had already generated significant buzz after its announcement earlier in the week, but demand far exceeded the Mint's initial projections for walk-in sales.

Secondary market platforms including eBay Canada and Facebook Marketplace saw listings appear within minutes of the official sale opening, with individual coins fetching between $35 and $75 CAD — well above the $29.95 retail price. Coin collector forums on Reddit's r/canadiancoins reported server slowdowns as enthusiasts attempted to document purchases and track remaining stock at regional outlets.

The CN Tower, which opened on June 26, 1976, and held the title of world's tallest free-standing structure for over three decades, remains one of Ontario's most visited landmarks with approximately 1.5 million tourists annually. Erin Lemon, a spokesperson for Canada Lands Company, which operates the tower, confirmed that the commemorative coin release was timed to coincide with a spring programming push at the attraction, including a new glass floor expansion scheduled to open in April.

Numismatic experts noted that the Mint's use of photoluminescent pigment — the same technology used in its popular Halloween and dinosaur series — has consistently driven outsized collector interest. 'This combination of a beloved national landmark hitting a milestone anniversary with the glow feature is exactly the formula that causes sellouts,' said Douglas Muir, editor of the Canadian Numismatic Journal, speaking from his Ottawa office.

The Mint confirmed it would not be issuing a second production run of the standard collector edition, though a bullion version in silver is expected later in the year. Canadians who missed Sunday's release were directed to a waitlist on the Mint's website, which itself reported intermittent outages throughout the morning owing to traffic volume.