50-cent coin

Canada
Value	0.50 Canadian dollar
Mass	6.9 g
Diameter	27.13 mm
Thickness	1.95 mm
Edge	Milled
Composition	Nickel-plated steel 93.15% steel, 4.75% Cu, 2.1% Ni plating
Years of minting	1870–present
Catalogue number	–
Obverse
Design	Charles III, King of Canada
Designer	Steven Rosati[citation needed]
Design date	2023
Reverse
Design	Canadian coat of arms
Designer	Cathy Bursey-Sabourin[citation needed]
Design date	1997

The Canadian fifty-cent coin (French: pièce de cinquante cents) is a Canadian coin worth 50 cents. The coin's reverse depicts the coat of arms of Canada. At the opening ceremonies for the Ottawa branch of the Royal Mint, held on January 2, 1908, Governor General Earl Grey struck the Dominion of Canada's first domestically produced coin. It was a silver fifty-cent coin bearing the effigy of King Edward VII.

Though it is regularly minted, it is not made in large quantities (approximate annual average production of 150,000), and since 2004 has only been available to the public directly from the mint.^[1]

A largely unsuccessful attempt was made by the Royal Canadian Mint to promote the use of the coin when a special edition was released in 2002 marking the 50th anniversary of the accession of Elizabeth II to the throne. After this failed promotion, the mint stopped distributing 50-cent coins to banks and now sells them only in rolls or in coin sets available directly from their Numismatic Department at twice their face value, or $25 per roll of 25 coins.^[2][3]

The mint's website lists the 2007 coat of arms 50-cent coin as "rarely seen yet replete with tradition".^[4][5]

History

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During the early to mid-1920s, demand for 50-cent coins was minimal. Only 28,000 coins were issued between 1921 and 1929. When greater demand for the denomination arose in 1929, the Master of the Ottawa Mint decided to melt the stock of 1920 and 1921 coins. It amounted to a total of 480,392 coins. The decision was due to the belief that the public would suspect counterfeits if a large number of coins dated 1920 and 1921 were placed into circulation. It is believed that 75 or so of the 1921 coins have survived, mainly from sets that were sold at the time.^[6]

Composition and size

Circulation figures

Victoria and Edward VII

Year	Mintage	Notes
1870	450,000[9]
1870 LCW[a]
1871	200,000[9]
1871 H[b]	45,000[9]
1872 H[b]	80,000[9]	This figure includes the inverted "A" for "V" in Victoria variety.
1881 H[b]	150,000[9]
1888	60,000[9]
1890 H[b]	20,000[9]
1892	151,000[9]
1894	29,036[9]
1898	100,000[9]
1899	50,000[9]
1900	118,000[9]
1901 Victoria	80,000[9]
1902 Edward VII	120,000[10]
1903 H[b]	140,000[10]
1904	60,000[10]
1905	40,000[10]
1906	350,000[10]
1907	300,000[10]
1908	128,119[10]
1909	302,118[10]
1910 Victorian leaves	649,521[10][11]	The leaves on the reverse were slightly modified.
1910 Edwardian leaves

George V and George VI

A 1917 50-cent piece featuring King George V

A 1946 50-cent coin featuring King George VI

Year	Mintage	Notes
1911 no "Dei gra"	209,972[12]	The words Dei gra (Latin for 'by the grace of God') were removed from the obverse of the coin to make room for Ind:Imp (Latin for 'Emperor of India').
1912 with "Dei gra"	285,867[13]	"Dei gra" was later restored in 1912 after public backlash for "godless" coins.[14]
1913	265,889[13]
1914	160,128[13]
1916	459,070[13]
1917	752,213[13]
1918	754,989[13]
1919	1,113,429[13]
1920	584,691[15]
1921	Unknown[15]	Only 75 to 100 coins are known to exist.
1929	228,328[15]
1931	57,581[15]
1932	19,213[15]	As coin collecting was becoming widely popular, many of these coins were saved.
1934	39,539[15]
1936	38,550[15]
1937	192,016[16]
1938	192,018[16]
1939	287,976[16]
1940	1,996,566[16]
1941	1,714,874[16]
1942	1,974,164[16]
1943	3,109,583[16]
1944	2,460,205[16]
1945	1,959,528[16]
1946	950,235[16]	This figure includes the "hoof in 6" variety.
1947	424,885[16][c]
1947 ML	38,433[16][c]	Obverse Ind:Imp (Latin for 'Emperor of India') removed
1948	37,784[17]
1949	858,991[17]	This figure includes the "hoof over 9" variety.
1950	2,384,179[17]	This figure includes the "lines" and "no lines" in 0 varieties.
1951	2,421,730[17]
1952	2,596,465[17]

Elizabeth II

Year	Mintage	Notes
1953 no strap	1,630,429[18]	This variety is also called with/without shoulder fold.
1953 strap
1954	506,305[18]
1955	753,511[18]
1956	1,379,499[18]
1957	2,171,689[18]
1958	2,957,266[18]	Large reverse design, simple Canadian coat of arms
1959	3,095,535[19]	Small reverse design, complete coat of arms
1960	3,488,897[19]
1961	3,584,417[19]
1962	5,208,030[19]
1963	8,348,871[19]
1964	9,377,676[19]	1st obverse portrait
1965	12,629,974[20]	2nd obverse portrait
1966	7,920,496[20]	Last regular issue coin in silver
1967	4,211,392[21]	Canadian Centennial; this coin features a howling wolf and is dated 1867–1967.
1968	3,966,932[22]
1969	7,113,929[22]
1970	2,429,526[22]
1971	2,166,444[22]
1972	2,515,632[22]
1973	2,546,096[22]
1974	3,436,650[22]
1975	3,710,000[22]
1976	2,940,719[22]
1977	709,839[23]
1978	3,341,892[24]	This figure includes the "square" and "round" jewels varieties.
1979	3,425,000[24]
1980	1,574,000[24]
1981	2,690,272[24]
1982	2,236,674[24]	This figure includes the "small" and "large" beads varieties.
1983	1,177,000[24]
1984	1,502,989[24]
1985	2,188,374[24]
1986	781,400[24]
1987	373,000[24]	From this date forward, 50¢ coins were generally minted in smaller amounts.
1988	220,000[24]
1989	266,419[24]	2nd obverse portrait
1990	207,000[25]	3rd obverse portrait
1991	490,000[25]
1992	445,000[26]	125th anniversary of Confederation; this coin is dated 1867–1992.
1993	393,000[25]
1994	987,000[25]
1995	626,000[25]
1996	458,000[25]
1997	387,000[27]	Revised Canadian coat of arms on the reverse
1998	308,000[27]
1999	496,000[27]
2000	559,000[27]	Struck in nickel
2001 P[d]	389,000[28]
2002 P[d] (GJ)	14,440,000[29]	(1952–2002) Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee
2003 P[d]	—N/a	50¢ coins minted since 2003 are not for circulation.[2][e]

Commemoratives

Collecting

Known as the "king of Canadian coins", the 1921 Canadian 50-cent coin is rare, with a high-grade example (PCGS MS-66) having sold for US$227,546 in a January 2010 Heritage Auction.^[30] The highest-graded specimen is graded by PCGS at MS-67 and was last sold (by Diverse Equities^[31]) in the year 2000 to a private collector for the US$400,000.

Notes

References