I'm setting up a new wantlist for my Canadian half dollar by type collection, and I noticed it appears that the 1977 Canadian half is a one-year type with a unique KM#. Is it just the spacing of the dots around the edge, or what? I can't see anything else it could be. And if that all it is, any ideas why that happened?
The 1977 50 cent was a year when they tried some new design changes . They made the bust of the Queen smaller, the legend was also smaller, the beads were enlarged and moved a bit further away from the rim . On the reverse the coat of arms was reduced so they could put beads around the outside instead of having denticles. This was all done to improve the performance of the die. There were only 710,000 coins minted. The lowest mintage since the 1955 50 cent coin. Information is from A Guide Book of Canadian Coins and Tokens by James A. Haxby . A very worthwhile book to buy for information on Canadian Coins and Tokens , and I do not think it is all that expensive. Last time I looked on Amazon for a book they still had this version for sale. I hope this helps a little. Dillan
As Dillan said, they made the devices smaller. I don't delve much into Canadian halves (mostly cents). But, if I'm not mistaken, the 1977 Coat of Arms uses a square jewel flanked by round jewels in the crown (as previous years). In 1978, the mint had two jewel varieties. One was like the previous years, but the other had three prominent square jewels in the crown instead. I believe this square jewel configuration was then used ongoing, but I could be mistaken. Hopefully someone that specializes in Canadian halves drops in to clarify.
