What Are the Canadian Mint Marks?

Identification

• A Canadian mint mark is a mark engraved on official, circulated collectible or commemorative coins produced under the license of the Canadian government. The mint mark indicates at which mint that particular coin was fabricated. As of 2011, Canada has two minting locations, one in Ottawa and one in Winnipeg.

History

• The first true Canadian coins were minted not in Canada but in Great Britain. By 1908, this role had been assumed by the Canadians themselves, starting in the capital city of Ottawa. Parts of the minting process were then outsourced to the city of Winnipeg. In 2006, Canada ruled that all coins produced from that point on would have to bear mint marks. A new line of coins described as "first day mint mark coins" are sold as collectibles.

Features

• According to the 2006 laws requiring mint marks, the mark is engraved on the obverse of the coin of all "standard denominations and circulation coins." The mark should appear as a single letter indicating the city/ mint of production: 'W' for Winnipeg and 'C' for Ottawa. While the vast majority of those coins produced in Great Britain before 1908 do not have any mint marks, some do. Coins minted at the facility in Heaton located in Birmingham, England, bear an 'H' mint mark.

Numismatists

• Numismatists interested in Canadian coinage can find many discrepancies and anomalies. For example, some of the nickels and dimes struck in the year 1968 were produced not in Canada, but instead in the United States at the Philadelphia Mint. These coins bear no mint marks to betray their point of origin. Despite the fact that many earlier coins have no marks, "English style sovereign" coins dated between 1908 and 1918 may have Ottawa mint marks.