Penny (Canadian coin)

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In Canada, a penny is a coin worth one cent or ¹⁄₁₀₀ of a dollar. According to the Royal Canadian Mint, the official national term of the coin is the "1 cent coin", but in practice the term penny or cent is universal. Penny was likely readily adopted because the previous coinage in Canada (up to 1858) was the British monetary system, where Canada used British pounds and pence as coinage alongside U.S. decimal coins and Spanish milled dollars.

The first Canadian cents were struck in 1858 and had a diameter of 25.4 mm and a weight of 4.54 grams. ^[1] The coins of 1858 were larger than modern one cent coins, and have a diameter that is a little larger than the modern 25 cent-piece (its diameter being 23.58 mm). These coins were struck in Britain on the planchet of the British halfpenny and had nearly an equivalent value. These coins were originally issued to bring some kind of order to the Canadian monetary system, which, until 1858, relied on British coinage, bank and commercial tokens (the ones in Quebec being called "sous", a slang term that survives), U.S. currency and Spanish milled dollars. The first issues, however, were unpopular and originally had to be sold at a discount. Pennies were issued only sporadically in the third quarter of the 19th century. They were used in the colonies of Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia upon Confederation in 1867. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia issued their own coinage prior to that date, and British Columbia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland continued to issue "pennies" until they joined Confederation. The high price of copper forced a reduction to the current size in 1920.

In Canadian French, the penny is also called a cent, which is spelled the same way as the French word for "hundred" but is pronounced (and occasionally spelled) cenne. Slang terms include cenne noire or sou noir, "black penny", though common Quebec usage is now "sou".

Like all Canadian coins, the obverse depicts the reigning monarch at the time of issue. A special reverse side, depicting a rock dove, was issued in 1967 as part of a Centennial commemoration. ^[2]

The current coin has a round, smooth edge, and this has been the case for most of its history; however, from 1982 to 1996, the coin was twelve-sided. This was done to help the visually impaired identify the coin.^[3]

There have been repeated talks about getting rid of the penny as it is estimated that it costs the Royal Canadian Mint four cents to produce a one-cent coin, ^[4] even though the Royal Canadian Mint claims it costs only 0.8 cents to produce a penny. ^[5] The Canadian penny is rarely used and costs at least 130 million dollars annually to keep in circulation, estimates a financial institution (the Desjardins Group) that called for an end to the penny. ^[6] According to a 2007 survey, only 37 percent of Canadians use pennies, but the government continues to produce about 816 million pennies per year, equal to 25 pennies per Canadian. ^[7]

Contents 1 History of composition [1] 2 First Strikes 3 References 4 External links

[edit] History of composition [1]

Years	Mass	Diameter/Shape	Composition
2000–present	2.35 g	19.05 mm, round	94% steel, 1.5% nickel, 4.5% copper plated zinc
1997–1999	2.25 g	19.05 mm, round	98.4% zinc, 1.6% copper plating
1982–1996	2.5 g	19.1 mm, 12-sided	98% copper, 1.75% tin, 0.25% zinc
1980–1981	2.8 g	19.0 mm, round	98% copper, 1.75% tin, 0.25% zinc
1978–1979	3.24 g	19.05 mm, round	98% copper, 1.75% tin, 0.25% zinc
1942–1977	3.24 g	19.05 mm, round	98% copper, 0.5% tin, 1.5% zinc
1920–1941	3.24 g	19.05 mm, round	95.5% copper, 3% tin, 1.5% zinc
1876–1920	5.67 g	25.4 mm, round	95.5% copper, 3% tin, 1.5% zinc
1858–1859	4.54 g	25.4 mm, round	95% copper, 4% tin, 1% zinc

Since May of 2006, all circulation Canadian pennies from 1942 to 1996 have an intrinsic value of over $0.02 USD based on the increasing spot price of copper in the commodity markets. [2]

[edit] First Strikes

Year	Theme	Mintage	Issue Price
2005	First Day Cover	1,799	$14.95
2006	With New Mint Mark	5,000	$29.95

[edit] References

1. ^ The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Coins, W.K. Cross, p. 57, The Charlton Press, Toronto, Ontario, ISBN 0-88968-297-6
2. ^ The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Coins, W.K. Cross, p. 72, The Charlton Press, Toronto, Ontario, ISBN 0-88968-297-6
3. ^ Coins of Canada, J.A. Haxby & R.C. Willey, Unitrade Press (2002), ISBN 1-894763-09-2
4. ^ http://economics.ca/cgi/jab?journal=cpp&view=v29n4/CPPv29n4p511.pdf
5. ^ http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/070215/canada/canada_economy_money
6. ^ http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/070215/canada/canada_economy_money
7. ^ http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/070215/canada/canada_economy_money

[edit] External links

• Coinage Designs of 1967

v • d • e Canadian banknotes and coins
Topics of Canadian numismatics	Royal Canadian Mint · Royal Canadian Mint numismatic coins · Royal Canadian Mint Olympic coins · Royal Canadian Mint RCMP coins · Gold Maple Leaf · Silver Maple Leaf
Canadian coinage	1¢ (penny) · 5¢ (nickel) · 10¢ (dime) · 25¢ (quarter) · 50¢ · $1 (loonie) · $2 (toonie)  · Canadian silver dollar
Canadian banknotes	$5 · $10 · $20 · $50 · $100 · Withdrawn banknotes
Historical currencies of Canada	New France livre · Canadian pound · Nova Scotian dollar · New Brunswick dollar · Early Canadian banking system
Newfoundland dollar	1¢ · 5¢ · 10¢ · 20¢ · 25¢ · 50¢ · Coins of the Newfoundland dollar
Other	Bank of Canada · Calgary dollar · Canadian Bank Note Company · Canadian dollar · Canadian Numismatic Association · Canadian Numismatic Association medals and awards · History of Canadian currency · List of foreign countries with coinage struck at the Royal Canadian Mint · Ottawa Mint sovereigns ·Toronto dollar · Voyageur dollar