Quarter (Canadian coin)

Quarter

Canada
Value	0.25 CAD
Mass	4.4 g
Diameter	23.81 mm
Thickness	1.60 mm
Edge	milled
Composition	94% steel, 3.8% Cu, 2.2% Ni plating
Years of minting	1870–present
Catalog number	-
Obverse
Design	Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada
Designer	Susanna Blunt
Design date	2003
Reverse
File:0.25.jpg
Design	Caribou
Designer	Emmanuel Hahn
Design date	1937

The quarter is a Canadian coin, valued at 25 cents or one-fourth of a Canadian dollar. It is a small, circular coin of silver colour. According to the Royal Canadian Mint, the official name for the coin is the 25-cent piece, but in practice the term quarter is nearly universal.

In Canadian French, the quarter used to be called a trente sous (a "thirty cents"). This is because the sou originally referred to a monetary unit used in France (and also New France), whereas today in Canadian French it means a Canadian cent, and somewhere in history 120 sous of New France came to be worth the equivalent of what eventually became the Canadian dollar. The exact exchange-rate mechanism by which this came to be is the subject of various occasionally contradictory theories. In Quebec, the term cents (pronounced SEN) is sometimes used in place of sous.

History of Composition

Years	Mass	Diameter/Shape	Composition
2000–present	4.40 g	23.88 mm	94.0% steel (unspecified alloy), 3.8% copper, 2.2% nickel plating
1968–1999	5.05 g	23.88 mm	99.9% nickel
1968	5.05 g	23.88 mm	50% silver, 50% copper
1953–1967	5.83 g	23.88 mm	80% silver, 20% copper
1920–1952	5.83 g	23.62 mm	80% silver, 20% copper
1910–1919	5.83 g	23.62 mm	92.5% silver, 7.5% copper
1908–1910	5.81 g	23.62 mm	92.5% silver, 7.5% copper

Commemorative reverses

Ordinarily featuring a caribou, the quarter has the most commonly altered reverse in Canada, and is the usual venue for commemorative issues.

In 2004, a quarter was issued in honour of Remembrance Day, featuring a corn poppy on the reverse, a traditional symbol in Canada of the day. This resulted in a bizarre international incident, in which American contractors unfamiliar with the coin's design believed these coins were outfitted with nanotechnology designed for espionage.

Single commemorative designs

Image	Year	Theme	Artist	Mintage	Notes
	1967	Canada's Centennial	Alex Colville	48,855,500	The reverse featured a lynx.
	1973	100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police	Paul Cedarberg	135,958,589	The reverse depicted a mounted RCMP officer obverse featured Queen Elizabeth II.
	2002	Canadian Maple Leaf	Judith Chartier	30,627,000	1952-2002
	2004	Acadia (Ile Ste. Croix)	R.R. Carmichael, Stan Witten	15,400,000	The reverse depicted a 17th century sailing ship, "La Bonne-Renommée" and the dates 1604–2004.
	2004	Remembrance Day	Cosme Saffioti, Stan Witten	28,500,000	The reverse featured a corn poppy coloured red, the first coloured general circulation coin in the world.
	2005	Alberta Centennial	Michelle Grant	20,640,000
	2005	Saskatchewan Centennial	Paulette Sapergia	19,290,000
File:Year of the vetran.gif	2005	Year of the Veteran	Elaine Gobel	29,396,000
File:Canada-Quarter-Ribbon-Breast-Cancer.png	2006	Pink Ribbon	Cosme Saffioti	29,798,000	The second colourized coin in general issue. the coloration is more scratch-resistant.
	2006	Medal of Bravery	RCM Engravers	20,040,000
	2008	Remembrance Day 90th anniversary	Cosme Saffioti, Stan Witten	11,000,000	Re-issue of 2004 design (but with a superior red poppy process & appearance), with '1918 Armistice' added to commemorate 90th anniversary.

125th Anniversary of Confederation

In 1992, to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Confederation, the Mint released twelve commemorative coins, one for each Canadian province and territory at the time. These were the inspiration for the US 50 State Quarters program of 1999-2008. Note: Nunavut, which broke off from the Northwest Territories in 1999, was honoured with a special $2 coin.

Province	Date of Release	Artist	Mintage
Alberta	1992-06-04 June 4, 1992	Mel Heath	12,133,000
British Columbia	1992-11-09 November 9, 1992	Carla Egan	14,001,000
Manitoba	1992-04-07 April 7, 1992	Muriel Hope	11,349,000
New Brunswick	1992-01-09 January 9, 1992	Ronald Lambert	12,174,000
Newfoundland and Labrador	1992-03-05 March 5, 1992	Christoper Newhook	11,405,000
Northwest Territories	1992-02-06 February 6, 1992	Beth McEachen	12,580,000
Nova Scotia	1992-09-09 September 9, 1992	Bruce Wood	13,600,000
Ontario	1992-08-06 August 6, 1992	Greg Salmela	14,263,000
Prince Edward Island	1992-07-07 July 7, 1992	Nigel Roe	13,001,000
Quebec	1992-10-01 October 1, 1992	Romualdas Bukauskas	13,607,000
Saskatchewan	1992-11-05 November 5, 1992	Brian Cobb	14,165,000
Yukon	1992-05-07 May 7, 1992	Libby Dulac	10,388,000

Millennium quarters

In April 1998, the Mint announced the Millennium Coin Design Contest, a contest open to all Canadians to submit designs for twenty-four millennium quarters, one for each month of 1999 and 2000. The 1999 designs were meant to look back on Canada's past, while the 2000 designs looked to the future. While the 1999 coins were labeled with their month of issue, the 2000 coins were labeled with the relevant theme (see below).

Image	Month	Theme	Artist	Date of Issue	Mintage
	January 1999	A Country Unfolds	Peter Ka-Kin Poon	January 5, 1999	12,238,559
	February 1999	Etched in Stone	Lonnie Springer	February 1, 1999	13,985,195
File:March 1999 Quarter.JPG	March 1999	The Log Drive	Marjolaine Lavoie		15,157,061
File:Canadian 25 cent coin Apr rev.JPG	April 1999	Our Northern Heritage	Kenojuak Ashevak	March 30, 1999	15,214,397
File:Canadian 25 cent coin May rev.JPG	May 1999	The Voyageurs	Sergiy Minenok	May 3, 1999	14,906,187
File:Canadian 25 cent coin Jun rev.JPG	June 1999	From Coast to Coast	Gordon Ho	June 2, 1999	19,821,722
File:Canadian 25 cent coin Jul rev.JPG	July 1999	A Nation of People	Maria H. Sarkany	July 1, 1999	16,537,018
File:Canadian 25 cent coin Aug rev.JPG	August 1999	The Pioneer Spirit	Alzira Botelho	August 3, 1999	17,621,561
File:Canadian 25 cent coin Sept rev.JPG	September 1999	Canada Through a Child’s Eye	Claudia Bertrand	August 27, 1999	31,077,650
File:Canadian 25 cent coin Oct rev.JPG	October 1999	A Tribute to First Nations	Jason Edward Read	October 4, 1999	31,964,487
File:Canadian 25 cent coin Nov rev.JPG	November 1999	The Airplane Opens the North	Brian R. Bacon		27,437,677
File:Canadian 25 cent coin Dec rev.JPG	December 1999	This Is Canada	J.L. Pierre Provencher		42,927,482
File:Canadian 25 cent coin Pride rev.JPG	January 2000	Pride Red color was added to the two on Maple Leaf (over $25.00)	Donald F. Warkentin	January 6, 2000	50,749,102
File:Canadian 25 cent coin Ingenuity rev.JPG	February 2000	Ingenuity	John Jaciw	February 4, 2000	35,812,988
File:Canadian 25 cent coin Achievement rev.JPG	March 2000	Achievement	Daryl Ann Dorosz		35,135,154
File:Canadian 25 cent coin Health rev.JPG	April 2000	Health	Anny Wassef	April 5, 2000	34,663,619
File:Canadian 25 cent coin Natural Legacy rev.JPG	May 2000	Natural Legacy	Randy Trantau		36,416,953
File:Canadian 25 cent coin Harmony rev.JPG	June 2000	Harmony	Haver Demirer	June 1, 2000	34,604,075
File:Canadian 25 cent coin Celebration rev.JPG	July 2000	Celebration Red color was added to the Flag (over $100.00)	Laura Paxton	June 29, 2000	34,816,329
File:Canadian 25 cent coin Family rev.JPG	August 2000	Family	Wade Stephen Baker	August 1, 2000	34,320,111
File:Canadian 25 cent coin Wisdom rev.JPG	September 2000	Wisdom	Cezar Şerbănescu	September 6, 2000	33,993,016
File:Canadian 25 cent coin Creativity rev.JPG	October 2000	Creativity	Eric (Kong Tat) Hui	October 4, 2000	35,102,206
File:Canadian 25 cent coin Freedom rev.JPG	November 2000	Freedom	Kathy Vinish	November 1, 2000	33,251,352
File:Canadian 25 cent coin Community rev.JPG	December 2000	Community	Michelle Thibodeau	December 4, 2000	34,378,898

Alberta and Saskatchewan Centennial

In 2005, to celebrate the centennials of the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, two commemorative quarters were issued. The public was given the opportunity to vote on the coin design through two toll-free phone numbers.

There were four candidate designs for the Alberta quarter: Big Sky Country, Alberta’s Natural Beauty, A Dynamic Century, and Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep. The winning design was Big Sky Country, by Michelle Grant, and depicted an oil derrick with cattle grazing at its base. The coin had a mintage of 20,640,000.

There were three candidate designs for the Saskatchewan quarter: The Western Meadowlark, Canada Geese over Wascana Lake, and The Round Dance Celebration. The winning design was Western Meadowlark, designed by Paulette Sapergia. The coin's mintage was 19,290,000.

2010 Vancouver Olympics

The Olympic coins do not have the inscription 'D.G. Regina' (Latin for 'By the Grace of God, Queen') making the coins "godless circulating coins". There have been a couple of circulation strike mule coins in this series, including 2007 Paralympic wheelchair curling and 2009 Olympic Alpine Skiing coins. With the medalist coins now called the Olympic moments coins, a very small percentage will be a colorized version.

Image	Date of Issue	Sport	Artist	Mintage
File:2007 Curling.jpg	February 23, 2007	Curling	Glen Green	22,000,400
File:2007 Ice Hockey.jpg	April 3, 2007	Ice Hockey	Glen Green	22,000,400
File:Wheelchair curling.jpg	July 11, 2007	Wheelchair curling	Glen Green	22,000,400
	September 12, 2007	Biathlon	Glen Green	22,000,400
File:2007 Alpine Skiing.jpg	October 24, 2007	Alpine Skiing	Glen Green	22,000,400
File:2010 Snowboarding.jpg	February 20, 2008	Snowboarding	Glen Green	22,000,400
	April 16, 2008	Freestyle Skiing	Glen Green	22,000,400
	November 18, 2008	Figure Skating	Glen Green	22,000,400
	June 23, 2008	Bobsleigh	Glen Green	TBA
File:2010 Cross Country Skiing .JPG	January 15, 2009	Cross Country Skiing	Glen Green	TBA
	March 12, 2009	Speed Skating	Glen Green	TBA
File:2010 Hockey.JPG	September 29, 2009	Men's Ice Hockey	J.B. & RCM engravers	20 000 000
	September 29, 2009	Men's Ice Hockey (color)	J.B. & RCM engravers	2,800,000
	September 29, 2009	Men's Ice Hockey (color engraved 2)	J.B. & RCM engravers	200,000
	November 17, 2009	Women's Ice Hockey	J.B. & RCM engravers	TBA
	November 17, 2009	Women's Ice Hockey (colour)	J.B. & RCM engravers	3,000,000
	January 5, 2010	Cindy Klassen (colour)	J.B. & RCM engravers	3,000,000
	March 18, 2010	Sledge hockey	G.G.	TBA

First strikes

Year	Theme	Mintage	Issue Price
2004	The Poppy	9,928	$19.95
2005	Alberta Centennial	8,936	$14.95
2005	MOOSE	1,807	$14.95
2005	Saskatchewan Centennial	6,926	$14.95
2005	Year of the Veteran	7,820	$14.95
2006	Medal of Bravery	5,000	$15.95
2006	New Mint Mark	5,000	$29.95
2006	Pink Ribbon	20,000	$15.95

Olympic first strikes

Year	Sport	Artist	Mintage	Issue Price	Release Date
2007	Curling	Glen Green	10,000	$15.95	February 24
2007	Ice Hockey	Glen Green	10,000	$15.95	April 4
2007	Paralympic Curling	Glen Green	10,000	$15.95	July 11
2007	Biathlon	Glen Green	10,000	$15.95	September 12
2007	Alpine Skiing	N/A	10,000	$15.95	October 24

Canada Day

Since 2000, the RCM has been issuing colourized quarters on Canada Day with designs aimed to attract young collectors. As with other collector coins issued by the RCM, the Canada Day series coins are non-circulating legal tender.

Year	Theme	Artist	Mintage	Issue Price	Special Notes
2000	Millennium Coloured Coin "Canada Day"	Laura Paxton	26,106	$8.95	1st Canada Day Coin.
2001	Canada Day Coloured Coin	Silke Ware	96,352	$9.95
2002	Canada Day Coloured Coin	Judith Chartier	49,901	$9.95	Version w/o colour was circulated.
2003	Canada Day Coloured Coin	Jade Pearen	63,511	$9.95
2004	Canada Day Coloured Coin	Cosme Saffioti	44,759	$9.95
2004	Canada Day Multi-Ply Plated Steel	Nick Wooster	29,762	$24.95	Part of Canada Day bundle.
2005	Canada Day Coin	Stan Witten		$9.95
2006	Canada Day Coin (coloured featuring two children holding a Canadian flag)			$9.95	Packaged with four Crayola crayons.
2007	Canada Day Coin (coloured featuring RCMP)			$9.95	Packaged with tattoos.
2008	Canada Day Coin (coloured featuring a cool moose in shades with his cap on backwards)			$9.95	Packaged with tattoos.
2009	Canada Day Coin (coloured featuring caricatures of the circulation coin animals [polar bear, beaver, loon and caribou] all in a schooner)			$14.95	Packaged with a postcard and a magnetic frame with character magnets.

Other notable dates

2007 Curling Quarter

2007 Curling Quarter

• The 1906 Small Crown is valued in the thousands of dollars for even very poor conditions.
• 1936 marked two valuable variations, the Bar and the Dot, both trend for over $1000 in uncirculated condition.
• The 1947 Dot is highly desired.
• The 1951 Low Relief was predominantly only made available in proof-like sets and have a mintage of around 500.
• The 1973 Large Bust is among the most desired Canadian Quarter. They sell for around $300 in Proof Like or Specimen condition, and can sell in the thousands for high end circulation strikes.
• The 1991 quarter had a low mintage, of 459,000
• The 1992 New Brunswick quarter has several rotated die versions, with the 180 degree rotation selling for between $100 and $200 in uncirculated condition.
• 1999 featured mule versions of the September and November quarters. These coins do not have the 25 CENT mark on them, making them, ironically, legal tender without a face value. Both tend to sell for over $10 depending on the exact condition of the coin. The Royal Canadian Mint estimates a combined mintage of 10,000 to 50,000 of the September and November mules.
• The 2000 Millennium Map Mule. Highly sought after by collectors, this is a modern rarity with about 100 known examples, as referenced in population reports of coin certification services (ICCS, CCCS, PCGS, NGC). Trends range between $2000 and $5000.
• 2000P Caribou: extremely rare 2 examples known to exist. They sell for $50,000 or more (ICCS has graded 2 in MS-64: ICCS 2009 Population report). Both are in private collections.
• 2000P Creativity: extremely rare 2 examples known to exist. They sell for $15,000 to $20,000 (ICCS has graded 1 in MS-62 and 1 in MS-66 : ICCS 2009 Population report).
• 2000P Community: extremely rare 5 examples known to exist. They sell for $12,000 to $15,000 (ICCS has graded 1 in MS-60, 2 in MS-62 and 2 in MS-63 : ICCS 2009 Population report).

Facts

• The first commemorative coins were planned for 1927 to celebrate Canada's 60th anniversary. A contest was held and the winner for the twenty-five cent coin was J.A.H. MacDonald; however, the Mint decided to not turn the design into coinage.
• When coinage was changed in 1937, the caribou (currently on the quarter) was originally planned for the five cent coin, the beaver (nickel) was planned for the ten cent coin, and the Bluenose (dime) was planned for the twenty-five cent coin.
• The lowest mintage of any circulated quarter post-World War II was in 1991; low mintage was attributed to a work stoppage and using up stock in preparation for the release of the commemorative quarters the following year. The total mintage was a mere 459,000 including collector sets and proofs.
• Canadian quarters were not issued into circulation in 1997 and 1998. In 1997, only 525,257 quarters were produced. In 1998, only 395,617 quarters were produced; even less than in 1991. All of them were issued in collector sets or proofs and none were issued into circulation.
• There have been plenty of debates about what animal is on the quarter but it is indeed a Caribou (not a Moose).
• The caribou on a 25-cent piece dates back to 1936 when a change in the sovereign's image on circulation currency prompted the Canadian government to modify the designs on the reverse side of coins as well. The caribou design was created by Canadian artist Emanuel Hahn and was first used in 1937. It has been temporarily replaced through the years in 1967 for the Canadian centennial (with a Canada Lynx), in 1973 to celebrate the centennial of the North West Mounted Police, in 1992 for Canada's 125th birthday, and in 1999 and 2000 by the winning designs of the Millennium coin program.

External links

• Royal Canadian Mint Act
• Canadian Numismatic Association