The Canadian Siler Dollar The Canadian silver dollar was first issued by the Royal Canadian Mint in 1935 in commemoration to King George V’s silver jubilee. The reverse design was sculpted by Emanuel Hahn (he also designed the Bluenose on the 10 cent pieces and the caribou head on the 25 cent pieces. He also designed the Canadian Parliament Buildings reverse of the 1939 Royal Visit silver $1 coin) the reverse depicts a voyageur and an aboriginal paddling in a birch-nark canoe. The faint lines in the background of the voyageur dollar represent the Northern Lights. The voyager dollar design was used on the dollars until 1986. The Canadian Silver Dollar Varieties 1947: There are eleven varieties of the 1947 issued silver dollar which fall in three categories: The pointed seven, the blunt seven and the maple lead issue. Pointed seven: In 1947 two styles of 7 were used in the dies to produce the dollar. On some of the dollars a dot is present after the 7 which was attributed to an imperfection in the die. There are a total of six different pointed 7 varieties: Pointed 7 Pointed 7 with a Double-Punched 4 Pointed 7 with a dot near the 7 Pointed 7 with a double punched HP under the effigy of His Majesty King George VI Pointed 7 with a triple punched HP under the effigy of His Majesty King George VI Pointed 7 with a quadruple punched HP under the effigy of His Majesty King George VI (The HP is the initials of the designer: T.H. Paget) Blunt seven: A short 7 with it’s tail pointing straight down is known as the blunt 7. There are only two varieties of the blunt seven: Blunt 7 Pointed 7 with a double punched HP under the effigy of His Majesty King George VI The maple leaf issue: 1947 with the Maple Leaf near the 7 1947 with the Maple Leaf near the 7 with a double punched HP under the effigy of His Majesty King George VI 1950-1952 varieties: Due to problems within the Royal Canadian Mint this variety now exists. It was due to the polishing process where part of the water lines appearing at the right hand side of the canoe tend to disappear due to the over polishing of the dies. Normally the voyageur dollar had four waterlines. Collectors started adding a premium to these varieties: the Arnprior types consist of 2.5 waterlines; it should be notes that if there is a trace of the bottom waterline the coin is not considered an Arnprior type dollar. The 1952 variety: In 1952 the reverse was modified to contain no waterlines whatsoever. In addition the canoe had a larger islet tip added to the right end. It should be noted that this variety was deliberately created by the mint. The 1955 Arnprior In December of 1955 the mint minted 2,000 silver dollar pieces for the Arnprior firm in Ontario. The coins only had 2.5 waterlines similar to the 1950-1952 issues but the 1955 piece got the collectors attention. The 1955 Arnprior also has a die break on the obverse legend which joined the T and the I in GRATIA. Note that the 1955 Arnprior gave birth to the Arnprior variety. The 1953 shoulder fold obverse: Two obverses exist for this date, No Shoulder Fold and the Shoulder Fold. The coinage for the year featured the new effigy of Queen Elizabeth II. The sculptress was Mrs. Mary Gillick and she created a model with a relief that was too high. The centre portion of the effigy was to feature two lines on the shoulder. These lines were supposed to represent a fold in the Queen’s gown. As these lines did not appear very well, it was commonly termed the No Shoulder Strap by many collectors. Later on in the year, the Royal Canadian Mint’s Chief engraver Thomas Shingles lowered the relief of the model and strengthened the shoulder and hair details. This modified obverse became known as the Shoulder Strap variety. The 1957 Arnprior In 1957 the dollar had a reverse that had only but one water line at the right hand side of the canoe. 1965 varieties: In 1965 the mint changed the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II to depict a more mature Queen. This gave birth to 5 new varieties. -The small beads “obverse” variety on the coin consists of the first and second variety. The rear jewel on the Queen’s tiara is well attached. The 5 in the date has two varieties: the pointed bottom and the blunt bottom. -The large beads “obverse” defines the 3rd and 4th varieties; the jewel at the rear of the tiara is well attached. Like the small bead variety the 5 at the end of 1965 has two varieties: the pointed bottom and the blunt bottom. -The fifth variety features medium beads on the obverse. The 5 is always pointed in this variety. 1982 planchet varieties: The 1982 nickel dollar exists on a rolled thin planchet. The normal planchet has a weight of 15.62 grams, a diameter of 32.13 mm, and a thickness of 2.50 mm. The thin planchet consists of incomplete reeding. Its weight is 7.78 grams, a diameter of 31.82 mm, and a thickness of 1.50 mm. This variety is incredibly rare, it’s believed that only two examples of the variety exists. Composition and Mintage of the Voyageur Dollar: 1935-195223.33g. 36.00mm 80% silver 1953-196723.33g. 36.00mm 80% silver 1968-198615.62g. 32.13mm 100% nickel Mintage: Year Mintage 1935 428,707 1936 306,100 1937 241,002 1938 90,304 1945 38,391 1946 93,055 1947 65,595 1947ML 21,135 1948 18,780 1950 261,002 1951 416,395 1952 406,148 1953 1,074,578 1954 246,606 1955 268,105 1956 209,092 1957 496,389 1959 1,443,502 1960 1,420,486 1961 1,262,231 1962 1,884,789 1963 4,179,981 1965 10,768,569 1966 9,912,178 1968 5,579,714 1969 4,809,313 1975 3,256,000 1976 2,101,000 1977 1,393,745 1978 2,948,488 1979 1,884,789 1980 2,544,000 1981 2,778,900 1982 1,544,398 1983 2,267,525 1984 1,223,486 1985 3,104,592 1986 3,089,225
A most excellent post. Thank you for posting it. I have rarely come across a post where I have learned so much!
I'm glad you enjoyed it, I had fun preparing it. It kills time at work . Do you collect Canadian pieces ?
LOL. A good a time as any to do it I do. I spend a good amount of time in Lake George NY which has long been a popular destination for Canadians. It has led to me find many in change. I have kept them all! Combine that with the fact that I have a friend in Canada who saves change he recieves and gives it to me when I see him every so often, I've actually got a collection of Canadian coins numbering over 100. No dollars though, yet!
If you want to add one to your collection some years are very inexpensive in MS60+ , the 1966 can be picked up in ms62 for like 16 bucks , you can get a lot of years in MS condition for 12$
weryon: Nice thread. It came in handy while searching for info on dollar coins. Information online seems a little scant, but could you tell me, is the composition of the 1939 Royal Visit dollar also .800 silver? and what is typically the other .200 (20%)... copper, nickel, other? I didn't save the link, but one site lists its mintage as: 1,363,816. Is that accurate? I noticed you didn't have it in your list above. I recently won one of these coins in a CT contest (picture at the link) and I was trying to learn more about it but was coming up empty on the specs. Thanx!
This is the information in the Charlton Coin Guide (2009): "The usual means of issuing coins was through the Bank Of Canada, but for this special coinage it was decided to make them available throught the Post Office as well, Consequently, 369,500 of the original mintage of nearly 1.4 million were issued directly to the Post Office. This mintage proved to be larger than public demand and between 1939 and 1945, 158,084 pieces were returned to the mint and melted." (A Charlton Standard Catalogue - "Canadian Coins" - 63rd Edition, 2009 W.K. Cross - The Charlton Press Toronto, Ontario - Palm Harbor, Florida) mintage -1939 - 1,363,816 -1939 Matted - included in above Composition: .800 silver, .200 copper Weight: 23.33 grams
@ ikandiggit: Thanks! This is a really nice coin you offered in the contest. I just love the tone or grime it's got built up on it. I have by now looked at several examples online, blast white examples are just boring! I really love this big dollar! Thank you again! :smile
Thank you for the details! The Voyageur Dollar is one of my favorite, especially with the young head. I used it as a training aid when I taught robotics. Many of the customers were from Canada, but the point was easy to understand: "We have the Voyageur and the Native Guide. They have the same tools, the same goals. It was just that the Native knows the lay of the land. That's what I am here for. I know the robot, but we are equal partners in this." Also, note that the center bundle has "HB" for Hudson's Bay Company.