World of Coins

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From Wikipedia:

Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres (3.85 million square miles), making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Its southern border with the United States, stretching 8,891 kilometres (5,525 miles), is the world's longest bi-national land border. Canada's capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.

Various indigenous peoples inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years before European colonization. Beginning in the 16th century, British and French expeditions explored and later settled along the Atlantic coast. As a consequence of various armed conflicts, France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces. This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom. This widening autonomy was highlighted by the Statute of Westminster of 1931 and culminated in the Canada Act of 1982, which severed the vestiges of legal dependence on the British parliament.

 

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Canada used the red ensign as an informal national flag from 1892 until 1965.

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From Wikipedia:

The ensign is the Red Ensign of the United Kingdom, embellished with the Arms of Canada as a shield in the bottom right quarter. The shield is divided into four quarters, consisting of the coats of arms of England, Scotland, Ireland and the Kingdom of France, the four founding nations of Canada. The first three quarters are the same as the Arms of the United Kingdom. At the base is a sprig of three maple leaves representing Canada. The leaves are described as proper, that is, the correct colour; it uses red and gold, the colour of the leaves in autumn, whereas earlier versions used green.

Canada issued a new series of coins in 1937, with a modernised set of designs. Several factors led to this event. I quote from a reply given to our forum member quaziright by Canadian numismatist Henry Nienhuis:

Sir Robert Johnson, Deputy Master of the Royal Mint from 1922 to 1938, was quite the salesman. With the Statute of Westminster (1931) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_Westminster_1931), many commonwealth countries received various degrees of independence from British control. This created a desire for their own national coinages. Johnson embarked on a re-design campaign to help meet this need, though all coinage tools were still produced at the Royal Mint in his day.

It was J.H. Campbell, Master of the Royal Canadian Mint, who petitioned the Canadian government to have new designs for the reverses of all Canadian coins except the dollar. After the death of George V, he argued that it would be an ideal time to transition to new modern designs with a new sovereign. A local design committee was set up and designs submitted by British sculptor George Kruger-Gray (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,8847.0.html) (who produced many of the colonial coins) and Canadian sculptor Emanuel Otto Hahn (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Hahn) were chosen. The new effigy of Edward VIII was to be by Thomas Humphrey Paget (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,4118.0.html), but we know how that turned out. [Edward abdicated]. Edward actually paid a great deal of attention to the new modern coinage designs (Britain's, that is).

With the abdication of Edward in favour of George VI, the Royal Mint scrambled to get the new tools done for the entire commonwealth, with Britain garnering the immediate attention.

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In late 1937, the tools and matrices finally arrived from London, so the issue of the new coins of the reign of King George VI was struck immediately. The most of the current designs of Canada's coins date from this period. The coins were as follows:

1¢: A twig with two maple leaves (Designer: George Kruger-Gray).
5¢: A beaver sitting on a log (Designer: George Kruger-Gray).
10¢: The famous Nova Scotian racing schooner Bluenose (Designer: Emanuel Hahn).
25¢: A caribou's head (Designer: Emanuel Hahn).
50¢: The Coat-of-Arms of Canada (Designer: George Kruger-Gray).
$1: Voyageur (Designer: Emanuel Hahn).

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Kruger-Gray's superb design sets the beaver in context with a background of natural scenery. Usually Kruger-Gray simply placed an outline of an animal on a horizontal line, without providing any natural context. His red deer design for the ½ rupee of Mauritius (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=10882.0;attach=72938;image) is an example of his usual style. The elaborate beaver design for Canada is therefore something of a surprise.

See also: The portrayal of animals in coin design (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,25510.0.html).

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In 1935 Canada struck a commemorative silver dollar for King George V's Silver Jubilee. Emanuel Hahn created the famous reverse design known as Le Voyageur.

The design shows a canoe carrying a voyageur, (French-Canadian fur trader) and an Indigenous man. The canoe also contains two bundles of furs—on one, the initials HB, for Hudson's Bay Company may be seen. This design also appeared in 1936 on the standard silver dollar, showing King George V's normal portrait on the obverse. Le Voyageur was also adopted as the reverse design for the circulating silver dollar for the reign of King George VI.

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See also: Canada 1935 dollar coin with unique obverse legend (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,47917.0.html).

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Under Edward VII and George V, the colonies and dominions were required to use the crowned effigy of the British monarch, while Britain used the uncrowned effigy. This measure was originally implemented as a a practical measure so that it would be easy to distinguish British coins (so called 'Homeland coins') from colonial coins, in colonies where both co-circulated. Eventually, the colonies that became dominions (the self-governing countries of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) considered that they were equal to Britain and should therefore also be allowed to use the uncrowned effigy. Thus the uncrowned effigy became a badge of status, in a way that was never originally intended.

King George V refused to allow the dominions to use the uncrowned effigy. However, King Edward VIII allowed them to do so, but he did not reign long enough to see the results of this decision. When George VI became king, he agreed to follow the course that Edward VIII had set in this respect, in order not to disappoint the people of the dominions. Thus Canada's use of his uncrowned effigy was in a sense a revolutionary, democratising and modernising development.

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See also: King Edward VIII: His Place in Numismatics (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,12573.0.html).

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I am grateful to Canadian numismatist Henry Nienhuis, who explains:

"With the abdication of Edward in Favour of George VI, the Royal Mint scrambled to get the new tools done for the entire Commonwealth, with Britain garnering the immediate attention. Some sample testing was farmed out. The early patterns/trial strikes were farmed out. Canada's tools went to the Paris mint. There they struck trial strikes for the new Canadian coins on thicker brass planchets, before the tools were sent to the Canadian Mint. The actual test planchets were apparently left to the contracted mint: Paris, in our case. There are only a handful of these pattern/trial strikes that were made in all denominations (below $1)."

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The UK declared war on Nazi Germany on September 3 1939. Canada followed suit on September 10 1939. The hardships of the Second World War meant that some metals had to be preserved for war purposes only. Nickel was an important metal, so in 1942 Canada began issuing its 5 cent coins in tombac (a type of brass).

The coins kept the beaver design but no longer had denticles around the rim on the obverse and reverse. These coins are 12-sided, but their edges are rather rounded compared to those of other such coins. This shape and the brass colour helped to distinguish the coin from the 1 cent coin. Its appearance was also inspired by that of the UK brass 12-sided threepence.

According to Canadian numismatist Henry Nienhuis:

The round to 12-sided transition occurred with the initial move to the war-time tombac alloy. It was felt that the copper/brass colour could be mistaken for a 1-cent coin, so making it 12-sided was meant as a safety feature. Of course, copper became a restricted metal and so the 5 cent piece transitioned to chrome-plated steel, but keeping the dodecagonal shape. That shape continued into 1955, when it moved back to be round after the Korean War. Since the world supply of nickel was going to be more stable, it was felt that the safety measure was no longer necessary.

 

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In 1943 Canada produced a new design for the 5 cents. It was in effect war propaganda, intended to promote the war effort. To my knowledge, Canada was the only Commonwealth or Allied country to produce a propaganda coin during the Second World War. A tombac version of the coin was issued in 1943 and 1944.

Robert Edmunds, the Chief of the Coining and Medal Division, had the idea of using a victory "V" sign for the new design, in conjunction with a flaming torch. The 'V' sign had been made popular by Winston Churchill.

Thomas Shingles, who became Chief Engraver of the Royal Canadian Mint in 1943, was employed to create a Victory design. The 'V' also cleverly doubled as the denomination! A message inscribed in Morse code on the perimeter of the reverse reads: "We win when we work willingly."

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See also:

1] Canada Victory 5c piece: alternative sketches (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,11958.0.html).

2] Denominational Roman numerals on modern coins (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,19040.0.html).

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In August 1947 India was granted independence from the UK. This meant that King George VI was no longer Emperor of India. Accordingly, the words 'ET IND. IMP.' were dropped from his title on the obverse of the coinage from 1948 onward.

However, because Indian independence occurred late in the year and the Royal Canadian Mint was already frantically busy and overstretched, there was no time to acquire new punches and matrices for the first Canadian coins of 1948. It was therefore decided to mint the first coins of 1948 with the outmoded obverse of 1947 and still dated 1947. To distinguish these coins as having been minted in 1948, a tiny maple leaf was placed after the year on the reverse of all denominations of the circulation coins. A special punch was used for this purpose, and that punch is now housed in Canada's National Currency Collection.

The Canadians did not acquire the new matrices and punches from the Royal Mint (London) until late in 1948. Coins were then minted with the correct year and new obverse.

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In 1960 the UK decided to prepare for a decimal currency. In 1964 Arnold Machin (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,3794.0.html) designed the portrait of the Queen that would appear on the UK's first decimal coins of 1968. The Queen agreed that any Commonwealth country or territory that wanted to use the portrait should be allowed to do so.

Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) was the first country to do so. Canada was the second, adopting the Machin effigy in 1965.

1967 marked the 100th anniversary of the Confederation of Canada. In 1964 the Minister of Finance organised a competition for a set of new design reverses to be issued in Canada's centennial year. The winner of the competition was Alex Colville (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Colville). His winning designs were issued as a special circulating set in 1967.

In 1968 the circulation coinage reverted to the standard design versions.

Unlike some other countries, Canada had continued to mint some of its coins in silver long after the Second World War. By now the value of silver had risen so much that it was no longer considered practical to mint circulation coins in that metal. 1968 was a year of transition, in which the 10 and 25 cents coin, which had previously been minted only in silver, were minted in two versions: nickel and silver. From 1969 those coins were minted in nickel only.

The regular 50 cents and dollar coins had also previously been minted in silver, but in 1968 and afterwards they were minted in nickel.

In 1968 there were apparently four different types of the regular 10 cents coin. The Ottawa Mint produced a nickel version and a silver version, and the Philadelphia Mint did likewise - in 1968 only.

If you have any more details on the differences between these types, please post them in the comments topic.

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Canadian numismatist Henry Nienhuis explains:

I am not sure if the die change in 1969 was because of difficulties going to full nickel production or not, but there was a minor design change that happened at that time. In 1969, the schooner (Bluenose) is more detailed and the water transition at the rim has a square edge versus the softer details previously. There was also a font change to a smaller more round date, which resulted in the very rare 1969 large date variety. Note that the nickel transition actually took place in 1968, with 172 million nickel 10-cent coins released to buffer the withdrawal of silver coins.

 
 

By the end of the 1970s, the 1 cent coin was becoming too expensive relative to its face value. In 1980 and 1981 the coin was minted in copper instead of bronze. It also had a reduced weight of 2.8 g compared to the 3.24 g of the bronze coin.

Nickel was also becoming more expensive, so the 5 cents coin was minted in copper-nickel from 1981 onward.

From Wikipedia:

In 1982 the Royal Canadian Mint began work on a new composition for the dollar coin that it hoped would lead to increased circulation. The nickel Voyageur $1 coin did not see wide circulation, mainly due to its size (a diameter of 32 millimetres) and weight (15.6 grams). Meanwhile, vending machine operators and transit systems were lobbying for the replace of the dollar banknotes with coins.

A government committee recommended in 1985 that the dollar bill be eliminated, arguing that it would save between $175 million and $250 million over 20 years by switching from bills with a lifespan of less than a year to coins that would last two decades.

The government announced on March 25 1986 that the new dollar coin would be launched the following year and that the dollar bill would be phased out. To distinguish it from other coins, the new $1 coin would be gold-coloured and 11-sided. It was planned that the coin would continue using the voyageur theme of its predecessor, but the master dies that had been struck in Ottawa were lost in transit, en route to the Mint's facility at Winnipeg.

Fearing the possibility of counterfeiting, the government approved a new design for the reverse.

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RCM officials now reluctantly sought another design for the planned coin. In 1978 a little known artist named Robert-Ralph Carmichael had sent a design of a loon bird to the Royal
Canadian Mint. The RCM had found no use for the design, and for years it sat unnoticed in their archives. Hurriedly scouring the archives, the RCM encountered Mr Carmichael's charming loon
bird design, and a classic was born. The Canadians came to adore the new coin, which they affectionately nicknamed the 'loonie'.

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From Wikipedia:

The loon is the size of a large duck or a small goose, but it is neither a duck nor a goose. The North American name "loon" likely comes from either the Old English word lumme, meaning lummox or awkward person, or the Scandinavian word lum, meaning lame or clumsy. Either way, the name refers to the loon's poor ability to walk on land. The scientific name Gavia refers to seabirds in general.

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Canada 5c 1992.jpg

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Canada 10c 1992.jpg

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Canada 1c 1992.jpg

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Canada 25c 1992.jpg

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Canada 50c 1992-.jpg

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Canada $1 1992.jpg

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Canada had produced a special circulation set of new designs for the 100th anniversary of the Confederation. For the 125th anniversary in 1992 another numismatic extravaganza was prepared.

Firstly, the standard circulation set was produced, but with the years '1867 1962' on the reverse of each denomination. You can see the reverse designs below. The images are not to scale, meaning that they do not show the correct relative sizes of the coins. Most show proof versions of the coins, but circulation versions were indeed produced.

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Canada had produced special designs for the 5 cents coin in 1943, 1944 and 1951. In 1973 it had issued a circulating 25 cents coin to honour the Mounties.

The set of twelve circulating 25 cent coins was a further step in the tradition of issuing commemorative coins of low denomination, so that they reached much of the population.

This set was emulated by the USA when that country issued its circulating commemorative quarters honouring the 50 states, from 1999 to 2008.

The UK eventually issued a set of 10 pence alphabet designs in 2018, no doubt inspired by the Canadian set of 1992.

The $2 coin was introduced in 1996. It was Canada's first bimetallic circulation coin. It quickly acquired the nickname of the 'toonie', sometimes spelled 'twoonie' as a reference to its denomination. This nickname also rhymed with the nickname of its counterpart coin, the loonie. Was the nickname also influenced by the name of the US cartoon series 'Looney Tunes' ?

From Wikipedia:

Finance Minister Paul Martin announced the replacement of the $2 banknote with a coin in the 1995 Canadian federal budget speech. Unlike the loonie before it, the toonie and the $2 bill were not produced concurrently with each other, as the $2 bill was withdrawn from circulation on February 16, 1996, three days prior to the toonie's introduction.

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From Wikipedia:

Officials for the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics invited the National Hockey League's ice making consultant, Dan Craig, to oversee the city's E Center arena, where the ice hockey tournament was being held. Craig invited a couple of members from the ice crew in his hometown of Edmonton to assist. One of them, Trent Evans, secretly placed a loonie at centre ice. He originally placed a dime, but added the loonie after the smaller coin quickly vanished as the ice surface was built up. He placed the coins after realizing there was no target at centre ice for referees to aim for when dropping the puck for a faceoff. A thin yellow dot was painted on the ice surface over the coins, though the loonie was faintly visible to those who knew to look for it.

Keeping the coin a secret, Evans told only a few people of its placement and swore them to secrecy. Among those told were the players of the men's and women's teams. Both Canadian teams went on to win gold medals. Several members of the women's team kissed the spot where the coin was buried following their victory. After the men won their final, the coin was dug up and given to Wayne Gretzky, the team's executive-director, who revealed the existence of the "lucky loonie" at a post-game press conference.

The lucky loonie quickly became a piece of Canadian lore. The original lucky loonie was donated to the Hockey Hall of Fame, and Canadians have subsequently hidden loonies at several international competitions. Loonies were buried in the foundations of facilities built for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Capitalizing on the tradition, the Royal Canadian Mint has released a commemorative edition "lucky loonie" for each Olympic Games since 2004.

2012 was an important year for Canada's circulation coinage. It was the final year of the humble 1 cent coin - or the penny, as the coin was known colloquially. From 2013, the lowest denomination in circulation was the 5 cents coin.

Also from 2012 onward, the $1 and $2 coins were issued with latent images on their reverse. These were used as a security feature for the two highest circulating denominations. The older versions of the two coins were also minted and circulated in 2012, co-circulating with the new versions, but 2012 was the final year of their minting.

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In 2017 Canada issued a new design series to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,37090.0.html). Each design was produced by a different designer. A 50 cents coin was also produced, but for collector sets only. However, it is said that the Canadians rarely use 50 cents coins anyway.

(http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;attach=119334;image)

150th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation.

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5  cents.   Living traditions.
10 cents.  Wings of peace.
25 cents.  Hope for a green future.
$1.           Connecting a nation.
$2.           Dance of the spirits.

That brings my survey of modern Canadian circulation coinage up to date.

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To post comments, criticisms, amendments etc. regarding this topic, please click on the link below:

Comments on "Canadian coinage since 1937" (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,48526.0.html)