Royal Canadian Mint

From Open Encyclopedia

The Royal Canadian Mint produces all of Canada's circulation coins, and manufactures circulation coins on behalf of other nations. The Mint designs and manufactures: collector coins; gold, silver and platinum bullion coins; customized medals, tokens and trade dollars; and watches and jewellery featuring coin designs. It also offers gold refinery and assay services.

The President and Master of the Mint is the senior executive officer of the organization, reporting to a Board of Directors appointed by the Minister of Public Works and Government Services. The Mint operates under the legislative basis of the Royal Canadian Mint Act.

The Mint has been at the forefront of currency innovation. Among the Mint's technical innovations was the world's first coloured circulation coin, the 2004 Remembrance Day 25 cents piece, with a red poppy on the reverse.

Many foreign countries have had coinage struck at the Royal Canadian Mint.

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History

Image:Royal Canadian Mint Ottawa 3jun2004.jpg The Ottawa branch of the Royal Mint was formed in 1908. Prior to the Royal Mint opening up in Ottawa, Canada's currency was solely produced in Great Britain at the Royal Mint and the Heaton Mint. In Ottawa the castellated Gothic style home for the mint was built from 1905 to 1908 and replaced the services formerly provided by the Royal Mint. The castle-like structure makes it one of the most unique buildings in Ottawa.

After the Ottawa branch opened, it allowed Canada to create their own coinage and create coinage for many other nations and territories including Newfoundland. The first coin to be produced at the new facility was the 50 cent coin on January 2, 1908. The other denominations minted were the 1, 5, 10 and 25 cents coins, and the gold sovereign. From 1912 to 1914, gold 5 and 10 dollars coins were also struck. A pattern coin was struck in 1911 for a silver dollar, but this denomination did not enter circulation at that time.

During the years following its opening, the Mint offered collector coin sets. Most of the sets issued prior to the 1950s are worth thousands of dollars. During the 1920s, there was a large surplus of circulating currency; virtually no silver coinage was struck from 1921 to 1928. 1921 also marked the change from the silver 5 cent coin to the familiar nickel, which had the same size and composition as the American coin that had been introduced in 1866.

In 1931, the Royal Mint was made a Canadian government corporation and renamed Royal Canadian Mint. As the Ottawa Mint was now Canadian owned, the mint was no longer allowed to produce gold sovereign coins, although none had in fact been struck in Ottawa since 1919. In 1935, a silver dollar coin was introduced with a Voyageur canoe on the reverse. The accession of King George VI in 1937 marked a complete redesign of the coin reverses to the well-known current circulating designs—a maple twig on the 1 cent, a beaver on the 5 cents, a schooner on the 10 cents, a caribou on the 25 cents, and a coat of arms on the 50 cents. The dollar's reverse was not changed.

World War 2 saw low mintages of most coins, as the metals (especially copper and nickel) were needed for the war effort. The reverse of the 5 cents was changed to a V for Victory in 1942, and its composition was changed to tombac; the composition was changed again to nickel-chromium-plated steel in 1944. The regular reverse and composition were resumed in 1946. Chromium-plated steel was again used for the 5 cents from 1950 to 1953 during the Korean War, but the reverse was unchanged.

In 1967, the Mint introduced a series of commemorative coins in honour of the Canadian centennial. Every coin produced that year featured a creature that is native to Canada—a rock dove on the 1 cent, a rabbit on the 5 cents, a mackerel on the 10 cents, a bobcat on the 25 cents, a howling wolf on the 50 cents, and a Canada goose on the dollar. A commemorative gold 20 dollars coin was also struck for collectors' sets, with a coat of arms on the reverse. The Royal Canadian Mint has continued to be at the forefront of placing commemorative coin designs in circulation. In 1973, the usual 25 cents coin reverse was replaced with a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer astride a horse, to celebrate the centennial of the North West Mounted Police. This practice became more popular in the 1990s, with numerous circulating commemorative 1 dollar and 25 cents coins, and a commemorative 10 cents in 2001.

Due to the rising price of silver, the fineness of silver coins was reduced from 80% to 50% in 1967, and silver was eliminated entirely from circulating coins in 1968. The formerly silver coins began to be struck in pure nickel. The diameters of the 50 cents and 1 dollar coins were reduced at this time to lengthen die life, since nickel is a much harder metal than silver. Starting in 1999, the rising cost of nickel led the Mint to strike all circulation coins from nickel-plated steel (copper-plated for the 1 cent).

In 1971, the Mint began a series of commemorative silver dollars, issued for collectors, that continues to this day; each year, a new reverse design is featured. A slew of other collectible coin series has since followed, most notably the gold 200 dollars coins. In 1976, the Winnipeg branch of the Royal Canadian Mint opened, allowing Ottawa to concentrate solely on collector coins while the Winnipeg mint would produce the entire supply of circulation coins to date.

In 1979, the Mint began issuing gold bullion coins known as Maple Leaf coins, because of the reverse design. Gold Maple Leafs have been struck in 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/10 and 1/20 troy ounce weights. In 1988, platinum Maple Leaf coins were introduced in the same weights as the gold versions, and in 1989, a 1 troy ounce silver bullion Maple Leaf coin was introduced.

The major change to Canadian coinage in the 1980s was the introduction of a circulating 1 dollar coin, widely known as the Loonie because of the common loon gracing its reverse. (A Voyageur canoe had been planned initially, but the master dies were lost in shipment between Ottawa and Winnipeg, so a new design was necessary.) This coin was introduced in 1987, and simultaneously, the 1 dollar banknote was withdrawn from circulation, resulting in wide acceptance of the new coin. In 1996, a 2 dollars circulating coin (known widely as the Toonie) was introduced, featuring a polar bear on the reverse, and the 2 dollars banknote withdrawn. The 2 dollars coin was one of the first coins in the world that used a bi-metallic structure—the centre of the coin is bronze-coloured and the circumference is nickel-coloured.

Security for the mint is provided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

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