Quarter (Canadian coin)
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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:	2003–present
Catalog number:	-
Obverse
Design:	Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada
Designer:	Susanna Blunt
Design date:	2003
Reverse
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 is commonly 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.^[1][2] In Quebec, the term cents (pronounced SEN) is sometimes used in place of sous.

History of composition

The coin was made slightly thinner in 1978.^[3]

Commemorative reverses

The quarter has the most commonly altered reverse in Canada, and is the usual venue for commemorative issues.

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 depiced a mounted RCMP officer
	2002	Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee	n/a		To commemorate the fifty-year reign of Queen Elizabeth II, the obverse was listed "1952–2002".
	2002	Canada Day			The reverse featured a large maple leaf.
	2004	Acadia (Ile Ste. Croix)	R.R. Carmichael, Stan Witten	15,400,000	The reverse depicted a 17th century sailing ship, "La Bonne-Renommée"[4] and the dates 1604–2004.
	2004	Remembrance Day	Cosme Saffioti, Stan Witten	28,500,000	The reverse featured a colourized red poppy, the first coloured general circulation coin in the world. In early 2007, Some U.S. Army contractors travelling in Canada were suspicious of the unusual quarter, which led to the U.S. Defense Department releasing a warning about Canadian coins with radio frequency transmitters. [5]
	2005	Alberta Centennial	Michelle Williams	20,640,000
	2005	Saskatchewan Centennial	Paulette Sapergia	19,290,000
	2005	Year of the Veteran	Elaine Gobel	29,390,000
	2006	Pink Ribbon	Cosme Saffioti	29,798,000[6]	The second colourized coin in general issue. The composition of the coloration was reworked from that of the poppy issue two years earlier; it is far more scratch-resistant on these coins.
	2006	Medal of Bravery	RCM Engravers	20,040,000[7]

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. These were the inspiration^{citation needed} for the US 50 State Quarters program of 1999-2008.

Millennium quarters

In April of 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
Image:Canadian 25 cent coin Jan rev.JPG	January 1999	A Country Unfolds	Peter Ka-Kin Poon	January 5, 1999	12,238,559
Image:Canadian 25 cent coin Feb rev.JPG	February 1999	Etched in Stone	Lonnie Springer	February 1, 1999	13,985,195
	March 1999	The Log Drive	Marjolaine Lavoie		15,157,061
	April 1999	Our Northern Heritage	Kenojuak Ashevak	March 30, 1999	15,214,397
	May 1999	The Voyageurs	Sergiy Minenok	May 3, 1999	14,906,187
	June 1999	From Coast to Coast	Gordon Ho	June 2, 1999	19,821,722
	July 1999	A Nation of People	Maria H. Sarkany	July 1, 1999	16,537,018
	August 1999	The Pioneer Spirit	Alzira Botelho	August 3, 1999	17,621,561
	September 1999	Canada Through a Child’s Eye	Claudia Bertrand	August 27, 1999	31,077,650
	October 1999	A Tribute to First Nations	Jason Edward Read	October 4, 1999	31,964,487
	November 1999	The Airplane Opens the North	Brian R. Bacon		27,437,677
	December 1999	This Is Canada	J.L. Pierre Provencher		42,927,482
	January 2000	Pride	Donald F. Warkentin	January 6, 2000	50,749,102
	February 2000	Ingenuity	John Jaciw	February 4, 2000	35,812,988
	March 2000	Achievement	Daryl Ann Dorosz		35,135,154
	April 2000	Health	Anny Wassef	April 5, 2000	34,663,619
	May 2000	Natural Legacy	Randy Trantau		36,416,953
	June 2000	Harmony (look closely to see that it is not only a maple leaf, but also people holding hands)	Haver Demirer	June 1, 2000	34,604,075
	July 2000	Celebration	Laura Paxton	June 29, 2000	34,816,329
	August 2000	Family	Wade Stephen Baker	August 1, 2000	34,320,111
	September 2000	Wisdom	Cezar Şerbănescu	September 6, 2000	33,993,016
	October 2000	Creativity	Eric (Kong Tat) Hui	October 4, 2000	35,102,206
	November 2000	Freedom	Kathy Vinish	November 1, 2000	33,251,352
	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.^[8] The coin had a mintage of 20,640,000.^[9]

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.^[10] The coin's mintage was 19,290,000.

2010 Vancouver Olympics

The Olympic coins have the inscription D.G. Regina (Latin for By the Grace of God, Queen) removed from the Queen's effigy, making the coins the first "godless circulating coins" since the 2001 International Year of the Volunteer 10 cent piece. On the 1911 issue of King George V, the inscription was accidentally left off.^[11]

Image	Date of Issue	Sport	Artist	Mintage
	February 23, 2007	Curling	Glen Green	22,000,000
	April 3, 2007	Ice Hockey	Glen Green	22,000,000
	July 11, 2007	Wheelchair curling	Glen Green	22,000,000
	September 12, 2007	Biathlon	Glen Green	22,000,000
	October 24, 2007	Alpine Skiing	N/A	N/A
	February 20, 2008	Snowboarding	TBD	TBD
	April 16, 2008	Freestyle Skiing	TBD	TBD
	September 10, 2008	Figure Skating	TBD	TBD
	October 29, 2008	Bobsleigh	TBD	TBD
	February 18, 2009	Speed Skating	TBD	TBD
	April 15, 2009	Cross Country Skiing	TBD	TBD
	June 17, 2009	Sledge hockey	TBD	TBD

First strikes

Olympic first strikes

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.

Other notable dates

• 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 arguably 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 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 $100 depending on the exact condition of the coin.
• The 2000 Map Mule is rather rare and generally sells between $300 and $600.
• The 2000P quarter is a very rare find and trends for around $5000 in uncirculated condition.

Facts

^{citations needed}

• 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.^[12]
• When coinage was changed in 1937, the carribou was originally planned for the five cent coin, the beaver was planned for the ten cent coin, and the Bluenose was planned for the twenty-five cent coin.^[13]
• 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.^[14]
• 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.

References

External links

• Royal Canadian Mint's Official Website
• Royal Canadian Mint Act
• Canadian Numismatic Association
• Numismatic Network Canada
• Canadian Coin News
• Coin Collecting Tips