You know our mint struck silver 5-cent coins in the latter part of 1942 through 1945 because of the military demand for nickel. Do you know Canada had the same problem, but solved it differently? In 1942, at first, Canada struck the five cent coin in 100 per cent nickel as always. The mintage figures for the nickel five cent piece totaled 6,847,544. It has the beaver reverse on it. As the supply of nickel dwindled it was decided to create a tombac coin to finish the year out. Tombac is a variety of brass composed of .88 copper and .12 zinc. While the U. S. put over-sized mint marks on it's silver 5-cent coins to distinguish them from the nickels of the past, the Royal Canadian Mint borrowed a design from England to distinguish it's wartime 5-cent coins. They went back five years to Great Britain's 1937 12-sided 3-pence coins (KM848). So there were two varieties of 1942 5-cent coins struck by the RCM as there were two varieties of 1942 5-cent coins struck by the U. S. Mint The main reason for a 12-sided coin, the RCM personnel said was their concern about the probability of a tarnished round tombac coin being confused with a Canadian cent. The RCM struck 3,396,234 1942 12-sided tombac 5-cent pieces with a beaver on the reverse. In 1943 and '44 the RCM decided to create a new reverse design on the tombac 12-sided 5-cent coin proclaiming Victory over the axis nations. The new reverse was both unique and not so unique. A "V" for Victory was borrowed from the U. S. nickels struck from 1883 through 1912 (our famous "V" nickels) A larger "V" is prominently displayed in the center of the coin's reverse (as was a smaller "V" on our nickels), but the torch of freedom was added, superimposed over the center of the "V". So much for the not-so-unique. Here are two unique aspects of the reverse. (1) Around the outside rim of the coin's reverse is a miniature international coded message which translates to "We Win When We Work Willingly"; (2) Thomas Shingles, chief engraver of the RCM at that time, prepared the original matrix for the reverse of this coin by hand.! Another difference on this coin from the 1942 coin was the addition of denticles to the obverse. Note: a mere 8,000 of the 1944 tombac coins were struck. Only a few fell into collectors' hands. The rest were melted due to a shortage of copper and zinc. Another change was forth-coming. The tombac composition had to be eliminated. It was decided to create a five-cent coin out of steel. To prevent damage, due to corrosion, the steel blanks were first plated with a .0127 layer of nickel and a final .0003 layer of chromium. 11,532,784 1944 5-cent pieces were struck. in this new composition. 18,893,276 1945s were struck. Though the mint was able to return to making the five cent coins out of 100 per cent nickel in 1946 and returned to the beaver reverse, the 12-sided shape of the coin remained until 1963. The design including the 12-sided shape and the Victory reverse was minted by the RCM in 2004 and 2005 as a collector proof silver 5-cent commemoratives. The 2004 coin bears the Queen's effigy minus the crown and commermorates the 60th Anniversary of D-Day (June 6, 1944) and, as well, the dates 1944 and 2004 on the reverse The 2005 commemorates VE-Day (May 8, 1945) and bears the original Tombac 5-cent's obverse with George VI's image on it as well as the dates 1945 and 2005 on the reverse. Clinker
Thank you for commenting...sometimes, the reading response on the trivia items are so kow, I think no one really cares whether I submit them or not. But, just when I think about discontinuing them, lo-and-behold I get a response like yours. It is a great feeling, so there will be some more. Again, a great big T H A N K S! Clinker
