Coins of the Canadian Provinces

Canadian Province Coins

Canadian coins have a long history with some issues dating back to 1858. However, some Canadian Provinces issued coins well into the twentieth century as the country gelled into a great nation. Coinage from Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island can still be found. Since these are now close issues, meaning no additional coins will be minted by the Provincial governments, and since there are relatively few coins minted for each Province, collecting them should be a fascinating experience. One could possible attempt a type set of one or more Provinces.

New Foundland Coins

The coinage of Newfoundland is the most extensive. It began in 1865 with the large cent, fine cent piece, ten cent piece, and twenty cent piece, as well as the two dollar gold piece. The fifty cent piece was first issues in 1870, and the twenty-five cent piece was first issued in 1917. The twenty cent piece was last issued in 1912, so there were several years between the twenty and twenty-five cent pieces. There are no one dollar issues, but from 1865 through 1888 a two dollar gold piece was issued on occasion.

Newfoundland coins in the small one cent pieces, the fie cent pieces, and the ten cent pieces can be found with dates as late as 1947, even though the higher denominations were no longer being minted.

New Brunswick Coins

New Brunswick coinage was brief. Coins of New Brunswick date from 1843 through 1864, and consist of halfpenny tokens, penny tokens, half cent, one cent, five cent, ten cent, and twenty cent coins. The halfpenny and penny tokens were only minted in 1843 and 1854, and the other issues were only issued in the early 1860s, yielding to Canadian coinage in 1865. Half cent and one cent pieces were first issued in 1861, and the five, ten, and twenty cent pieces were first issued in 1862.

This is a very short series of coins.

Nova Scotia Coins

Nova Scotia issued halfpenny tokens beginning in 1823 and penny tokens beginning beginning in 1824. These were issues in just a few years, and no coins dated after 1856 were issued for Nova Scotia.

Prince Edward Island

The earliest coins of Prince Edward Island were cut or countermarked coins. The one shilling coin was a countermarked on the center plug of a silver Spanish or Spanish Colonial eight reales coin. The five shilling coin was a countermarked, holed silver Lima eight Reales or Mexico City coin. These were countermarked from 1791 through 1811. The only coin actually minted for Prince Edward Island was the one cent coin of 1871.