I know nothing about coin collecting, but I'm curious about how common it is for a coin to have a different design than what is commonly listed. In particular, I have a 1938 Canadian penny (pretty beat up), but the reverse side has an image that resembles (to my untrained eye) a person sitting, holding a trident. All the references I see show 2 maple leaves on the reverse side. I apologize for the low quality photos, but if someone could explain the significance of the reverse design, I'd appreciate it. Thanks, Jay
Thats no canadian. Thats actually a great britian penny. Here is another just like it on ebay for reference. http://cgi.ebay.ca/1938-Great-Briti...ItemQQimsxZ20091230?IMSfp=TL091230209001r1525
Penny is not an actual term for US or Candian coins. It's slang, nothing more. The proper term for those countries is Cent. Like has already been covered, that is a penny from Great Britian. It's also quite large. In North America cents had become the small, modern size, where that is the same size as a US half dollar. (but not as thick) The person sitting on the reverse is Brittania, the symbolic spirit of England. Those large British pennys are some of my favorite coins, I have a handfull, but most of them are in pretty bad shape unfortunatly. The designs are cool and the size is nice, lends itself well to lots of detail! Welcome to the forum!