Canadian coinage

Encyclopedia : C : CA : CAN : Canadian coinage

---

This article concerns Canadian coinage, the coinage of Canada. Modern Canadian coins are produced by the Royal Canadian Mint and denominated in Canadian dollars ($) or cents (¢).

Denominations

There are seven denominations of Canadian coinage circulating: 1¢, 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, 50¢, $1, and $2. The fifty-cent coin is rarely encountered; the others are common. These denominations are similar to those of United States coinage. The historical sizes of the coins less than 50¢ are identical to those of U.S. coins due to both nations using the Spanish dollar as the basis of their money. Modest quantities of U.S. coinage circulate in Canada at par, and some Canadian coins (generally less than one-dollar) circulate in some places in the United States as well, though recent changes to the appearance and composition of Canadian coinage have made it more difficult for these coins to be used in the United States. In Canada, it is common to find U.S. 1¢, 5¢, 10¢, and 25¢ coins in circulation (just as there are Australian 5c, 10c and 20c coins in New Zealand and vice versa). This interchangeability led to some concern when the United States Mint decided that the new Sacagawea Dollar coin would have the same colouring as the Canadian $1 coin, the "loonie", although this proved to be a non-issue.

Introduction of $1 and $2 coins

The most significant recent developments in Canadian currency were the withdrawal of the $1 and $2 bills in 1987 and 1996, respectively, and their replacement with coins of new design. The new $1 coin, first issued in 1987, is colloquially called the "loonie," for the common loon on its reverse, and the name is frequently applied to the currency unit as well. It is made of nickel plated with "aureate bronze". The $2 coin, carrying a polar bear, introduced in 1996, is called by analogy the "toonie" and has two sections differing in colour. Unlike several U.S. attempts to introduce a dollar coin, the new coins were quickly accepted by the public, owing largely to the fact that the mint and government made it a "cold turkey" switch by removing the $1 and $2 bills from circulation.

The Canadian government has occasionally considered the possibility of eliminating the 1¢ coin from circulation, though as of early 2005 no serious discussion has been undertaken about dropping the coin. Likewise, reports that the government was considering a $5 coin to replace the bill have yet to be realized.

Production

Canadian coins are issued by the Royal Canadian Mint and struck at their facilities in Winnipeg. All special wording on commemorative coins appears in both Canada's official languages, English and French. All of the standard wording on the reverse sides of non-commemorative coins is identical in both languages. On the obverse sides, however, the name and title of Canada's monarch appear in an abbreviated-Latin circumscription. Currently, this reads "ELIZABETH II D. G. REGINA". The initials stand for "Dei Gratia"; the entire phrase means, "Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, Queen".

History

See also Coins of Canada

Canadian coins were originally issued in bronze (1¢) and silver (5¢ up). Gold coins for circulation were issued from 1912 to 1914 only, though sovereigns, to British standards, were issued in small quantities for some years. In 1922, copying an earlier change in the United States, the 5¢ coin was enlarged and changed to nickel; unlike the United States, pure nickel was used except during World War II and the Korean War. A silver dollar coin similar to that issued in the United States was first proposed in 1911 and a few trial pieces exist (one of which is in a museum in Ottawa and the other sold to a private collector a few years ago for C$1.1 million), but a proper dollar coin did not arrive until 1935. The percentage of silver in silver coins was reduced in 1919 and 1967, and in 1968 they were all replaced by pure nickel coins of the same size or nearly so. The rising price of nickel eventually forced the 5¢ coin (commonly called the "nickel") to be changed to cupro-nickel in 1982. At about the same time the 1¢ coin was twice made smaller, and in 1997 it was changed to copper-plated zinc. Finally, in 2000 all coins below $1 were changed to steel with copper or nickel plating. Unfortunately, there have been some problems with compatibility between the new coins and coin-operated devices like vending machines and public telephones. The 50¢ piece is regularly minted, but not in large quantities; it is very rare to come across this coin in circulation, although an unsuccessful attempt was made by the Mint to promote the use of the coin when a special edition was released in 2002 marking the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II ascending the throne.

Special edition coins

A centennial penny from 1967

The 2005 Terry Fox dollar

The 2005 Victory Nickel

Although the Mint has produced many special edition coins in recent years, Canada does have a history of such coins. From 1943 to 1945, the Mint issued the "Victory nickel" to promote the Canadian war effort. In 1967, all Canadian coins were issued with special reverses to celebrate the Canadian centennial. Six years later, a "Mountie quarter" was issued in 1973 to commemorate the centennial of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

In recent years, the Mint has issued several series of coins with special reverses. Most of them have been 25¢ coins, particularly in the years 1999–2001. There were also versions of the $2 coin commemorating the founding of Nunavut, and another with a family of polar bears; there have been several variants of the $1 coin, one of which featured the Canadian peacekeepers' monument in Ottawa to commemorate the award of the Nobel Peace Prize. A commemorative Terry Fox $1 coin began circulating on April 4, 2005.

On October 21, 2004, the Royal Canadian Mint unveiled a ["25¢ poppy coin"]. This coin features a red-coloured poppy embedded in the centre of a maple leaf above a banner reading "Remember - Souvenir". While some countries' mints have produced colourized coins for market to collectors, this is the first colourized coin in general circulation in the world.

The Alberta Centennial Coin

The Saskatchewan Centennial Coin

Year of the Veteran

The Mint states that, with normal wear and tear, the colour should remain for a number of years, although this claim was quickly disproved. The colouration compounds are attached to the metal on a specially prepared 'dimpled' section of the coin, and seem to come off easily if deliberately rubbed. The coin will retain its full value even if the red poppy has worn off or been removed; however it is now expected that fully coloured specimens will become collectible in the future.

On May 4, 2005 the Mint unveiled a new "Victory nickel", reminiscent of the original issued during the Second World War. The new coin commemorated the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory in World War II. Up to 60 million Victory nickels were produced and treated as regular circulation coins.

In 2005, $5 and 25-cent coins commemorating the centennial of two of Canada's provinces were released: the coin for Alberta represents oil exploration in that province; the coin for Saskatchewan depicts wheat fields. Later the same year, the Mint later issued a Year Of The Veteran coin to honour military veterans, again in the 25-cent denomination.

As of fall/autumn 2004, the highest-denomination coin minted in Canada is a $350 gold coin produced for the collector market, though the bullion values make its market value much higher than its face value.

Specifications

Canadian coins
Image		Value	Diameter	Thickness	Weight	Composition	Edge	Obverse	Reverse	Common name
		1¢	19.05 mm	1.45 mm	2.35 g	94% steel 1.5% nickel 4.5% copper plating	Plain	Queen Elizabeth II	Maple leaf	Penny (Fr. cent noir)
		5¢	21.2 mm	1.76 mm	3.95 g	94.5% steel 3.5% copper 2% nickel plating	Plain	Queen Elizabeth II	Beaver	Nickel
		10¢	18.03 mm	1.22 mm	1.75 g	92% steel 5.5% copper 2.5% nickel plating	Milled		The Bluenose (a famous schooner)	Dime
		25¢	23.88 mm	1.58 mm	4.4 g	94% steel 3.8% copper 2.2% nickel plating			Caribou	quarter
		50¢	27.13 mm	1.95 mm	6.9 g	93.15% steel 4.75% copper 2.1% nickel plating			Canadian coat of arms	50¢ piece
			26.5 mm Hendecagon	1.75 mm	7 g	91.5% nickel 8.5% bronze plating   (88% copper, 12% tin)	Plain	Queen Elizabeth II	Common loon	Loonie (Fr. dollar huard)
			28 mm	1.8 mm	7.3 g	Ring: 99% nickel Center: 92% copper                6% aluminium                2% nickel	Intermittent milled/smooth		Polar bear	Toonie
These images are to scale at 2.5 pixels per millimeter, a standard for world coins.

Canadians coins have medallic orientation, like British or Euro coins, and unlike U.S. coins which have coin orientation.

Urban legends

A number of urban legends have circulated regarding Canadian coinage.

• You can pop the centre out of a toonie. This is (or was) in fact true. Many toonies in the first shipment of the coins were defective, and could separate if struck hard or frozen, as the centre piece would shrink more than the outside. This problem was quickly corrected, and the initial wave of "toonie popping" blew over a few months after the coin's introduction.

• The 50¢ piece is no longer minted and/or has been withdrawn from circulation. The 50¢ coin indeed circulates so little that many people have never personally seen nor handled one. Shop proprietors have been known to refuse to accept them as payment because they do not recognize them as Canadian currency. However, the mint continues to produce the 50¢ coin annually in small numbers; most of them are purchased by coin collectors. The remainder go to banks, though most do not give them out unless the customer specifically requests so. Given enough notice, any bank should be able to obtain them in a significant quantity for their customers. The 50¢ coin is also commonly handed out as regular change at some Canada Post locations.

• The crown is wrong in the Queen's portrait. When the new coin portrait was first issued in 1990 (see above), a legend surfaced that the artist had simply added the image of a crown to a portrait of the Queen, and that she was never meant to be seen wearing that headgear. This is patently false; she posed personally for the portrait wearing one of her usual crowns.

• Canadian coins are minted in Regina, Saskatchewan. The expression D.G. Regina appears on the obverse of Canadian coins, leading to the (wrong) idea that the coins were minted in Regina. As noted, the Royal Canadian Mint branch in Winnipeg, Manitoba is responsible for minting Canadian circulation coinage. The expression D.G. Regina is an abbreviated form of Dei gratia Regina - Latin for by the grace of God, Queen, referring to the effigy of Elizabeth II. The city of Regina takes its name from the same Latin word, creating its nickname, "the Queen City." (Prior to the Winnipeg facility, all coins were minted at the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa, Ontario. The Ottawa mint mainly deals with numismatic and collector coins as well as bullion. In addition, coins struck for foreign governments are minted at the Winnipeg Mint.)

Canadian banknotes and coins

Topics: Canadian dollar | Bank of Canada | Royal Canadian Mint

Canadian banknotes: | | | | 0 | Withdrawn banknotes

Canadian coinage: 1¢ (Penny) | 5¢ (Nickel) | 10¢ (Dime) | 25¢ (Quarter) 50¢ (50-cent Piece) | (Loonie) | (Toonie)

 

---

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

?