Coins

Canadian coins today are produced at the Royal Canadian Mint and their denomination is known as Canadian dollars and cents. Since Canada has two official languages, English and French, all special wordings on commemorative coins appear in both these official languages. This also includes the reverse sides of these coins. Canadian coins were originally in bronze and silver. Gold coins began to be circulated from1912 to 1914. In 1922, Canada enlarged the 5¢ coin and changed it to a nickel.

Canada issued a silver coin along the lines of a silver coin issued by the United States. However, very few pieces are known to exist. The first dollar coin came out in 1935. With the price of nickel increasing, the 5¢ coin was changed to cupro-nickel. In 1982 the 1¢ coin was twice made smaller and in 1997 it was changed to copper plated zinc. In 2000, coins below $1 were changed to steel. In 1987, the $1 coin was called the loonie, as it made a pun on the loon minted on the reverse. In 1996, a $2 coin bearing a polar bear became popularly known as the “toonie”. It was a bi-metallic two dollar coin.

A Canadian dollar is made up of 100 cents, just like 1 Indian Rupee is made up of 100 paise. The Canadian dollar has a number of abbreviations to its credit. While its ISO currency code CAD is commonly used, other abbreviations include – C$, Can$, CDN$ and CA$. The coins currently being issued by the Royal Canadian Mint are 1¢, 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, 50¢, $1, and $2 denominations. The government of Canada has seriously thought about dropping the 1¢ coin from circulation; however as of 2006 no decision has yet been taken regarding the same.

A common rule where coins are concerned is that the side carrying the year of minting is the obverse, although most Canadian coins are an exception, including a few Chinese and Japanese coins. Canada also boasts of a number of cent and 5-cent issues that are 12-sided which are collectors’ items.