Loonie

For a mentally ill person, see lunatic.

For the Canadian dollar as a currency, see Canadian dollar.

One dollar (Loonie)

Canada
Value	1 CAD
Mass	7 g
Diameter	26.5 [1] mm
Thickness	1.75 mm
Edge	Eleven-sided, smooth
Composition	91.5% Ni, 8.5% bronze plating (88% Cu, 12% Sn)
Years of minting	1987–present
Catalog number	-
Obverse
File:Loonie obverse view.png
Design	Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada
Designer	Susanna Blunt
Design date	2003
Reverse
File:Loonie reverse view.png
Design	common loon in water
Designer	Robert-Ralph Carmichael
Design date	1987

Loonie is the name Canadians gave the gold-coloured, bronze-plated, one-dollar coin shortly after its introduction in 1987. It bears images of a common loon, a well-known Canadian bird, on the reverse, and of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse.

The design for the coin was meant to be a voyageur theme, similar to the country's previous one dollar/silver dollar coin, but the master dies were lost by the courier service while in transit to the Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg. In order to avoid possible counterfeiting, a different design was used.

The coin has become the symbol of its currency. Newspapers will often discuss the rate at which the loonie is trading against the United States "greenback". The nickname loonie (huard in French), initially a slang term for the Canadian dollar, became so widely recognized that on March 15, 2006 the Royal Canadian Mint secured the rights to the name "Loonie".

The coin — an 11-sided polygon — is made of Aureate, a bronze-electroplated nickel combination. The total composition of the coin is 91.5% nickel and 8.5% bronze. The bronze is about 88% copper and 12% tin.

Public reaction

The big loonie in Echo Bay, ON

The coin was released to the populace on 30 June 1987, and circulation of the one-dollar banknote was intentionally reduced at the same time to forestall any reluctance by the public to accept the new coin.

The coin has been met with a general public acceptance. American comedian Robin Williams referenced the Loonie during his 2002 Live On Broadway special, taking a jab at its peculiar name. He said, "Canadian money is also called "the Looney"; how can you take an economic crisis seriously?". Though the Loonie has received its share of humorous jabs, the coin was quickly embraced by the Canadian public. The town of Echo Bay, Ontario, home of loonie designer Robert-Ralph Carmichael, has erected an enormous loonie in honour of Mr. Carmichael along the highway — similar to Sudbury's 'Big Nickel'. On Canada's version of the television gameshow Deal or No Deal, the loonie has replaced the one dollar case.

Commemorative editions

The design has been changed several times for commemorative editions:

Year	Theme	Artist	Mintage	Special notes
1992	125th Anniversary of the Confederation	Rita Swanson	23,010,000	showing children and the Parliament Building. The regular loon design was also minted that year bearing the double date "1867-1992".
1994	Remembrance Design	RCM Staff	15,000,000	image of the National War Memorial in Ottawa
1995	Peacekeeping Monument	J.K. Harman, R.G. Enriquez, C.H. Oberlander, Susan Taylor	41,813,100 (see note)	Included in 1995 Loon Mintage
2004	Lucky Loonie	R.R. Carmichael	6,526,000	A Sterling Silver Edition was produced
2005	Terry Fox	Stan Witten	12,909,000	Fox is the first Canadian citizen to be featured on a circulated Canadian coin. There are versions that exist without grass on the reverse of the coin.
2006	Lucky Loonie	Jean-Luc Grondin	2,145,000	This is the second Lucky Loonie.
2008	Lucky Loonie	N/A	N/A	This will be the third Lucky Loonie.
2010	Lucky Loonie	N/A	N/A	This will be the fourth Lucky Loonie.

File:FoxLoonie.jpg

The 2005 Terry Fox dollar

Specimen set variant dollars

Year	Theme	Artist	Mintage	Issue price
2002	15th Anniversary Loonie	Dora de Pédery-Hunt	67,672	$39.95
2004	Jack Miner Bird Sanctuary	Susan Taylor	46,493	$39.95
2005	Tufted Puffin	N/A	39,818	$39.95
2006	Snowy Owl	Glen Loates	39,935	$44.95
2007	Trumpeter Swan	Kerri Burnett	40,000	$45.95

First strikes

Year	Theme	Mintage	Issue Price
2005	Common Loon	1,944	$14.95
2005	Terry Fox	19,949	$14.95
2006	Lucky Loonie	20,010	$15.95
2006	With New Mint Mark	5,000	$29.95

The lucky loonie

In recent years, the golden-coloured loonie became associated with Canada's winning hockey and curling teams and has been viewed as a good-luck charm in international competition. The legend began during the 2002 Winter Olympics, when a Canadian icemaker for the ice surfaces in the ice hockey tournament, Trent Evans, had buried a loonie under centre ice. The original reason for placing the loonie was to assist in the puck-drop: the centre ice at Salt Lake was emblazoned with a large logo, and was missing the customary circle used by the referee and face-off players as a target for the puck - so he needed to add some kind of a dot as a puck target that would not stand out, and a loonie buried under the ice served well. Both the men's and women's hockey teams would win gold in the tournament, the men's 50 years to the day after their last gold medal victory. Following the Games, Team Canada executive director Wayne Gretzky recovered the coin and gave it to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

A loonie was also used at the IIHF World Hockey Championships between Canada and Sweden on May 11, 2003. This lucky loonie is known affectionately as the Helsinki Loonie. It was hidden surreptitiously before the Gold-Medal hockey game and saw Team Canada to victory. After forward Anson Carter scored against Swedish goaltender Mikael Tellqvist in overtime to win the World Hockey Championship for Canada, Team Canada officials admitted they had placed a Loonie in the padding beneath the crossbar of the Swedish net.

The legend is also prevalent in curling, as the Kevin Martin rink at the same Olympics had won silver medals on a sheet with silver-coloured quarters underneath the surface. At the 2006 Winter Olympics, the Canadian icemakers in the curling tournament buried two loonies, one at each end of the sheet — coincidentally, Brad Gushue would win the gold medal there. In the same Olympics, the icemakers at the hockey tournament announced that they would not bury a loonie under the ice. The men's team finished out of the medals while the women's team won gold.

This legend is kept alive by the Royal Canadian Mint, which has since issued specially-designed "Lucky Loonies" for each year the summer and winter Olympics Games are held. Two new Olympic-themed loonies are due to be released in commemoration of the 2010 Winter Olympics being held in Vancouver-Whistler.

Trivia

• When the new coin portrait of Queen Elizabeth II was first issued in 1990, a legend surfaced that the artist had simply added the image of the so-called "King's crown" to a portrait of the Queen, and that she was never meant to be seen wearing that headgear. This is patently false; she posed personally for the portrait wearing one of her usual crowns.
• An episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ("Blaze of Glory") also made mention of a lucky loonie – although the episode's air date (12 May 1997) predates the more-recent Olympic tradition, making it impossible for the scriptwriter to have intended a connection between the fictional coin and its real-world counterpart. The character, Michael Eddington, had a family heirloom in the form of a 22nd century Canadian one dollar coin that he called his "lucky loonie".

External links

Multimedia

• CBC Archives News item talking about the introduction of the Loonie.
• The loonie's American trade secret revealed
• Loonie 20 years old

Web

• The chemistry of the loonie
• Snopes: A loon appears on Canada's one-dollar coin because the original dies, featuring a different design, were lost in transit.
• Loonie at centre ice