The Most Valuable Canadian Coins... That You'll be Able to Find

Hopefully the title gave you an idea of the type of valuable coins that are near and dear to me as I'm collecting. Those being valuable coins that aren't so extremely rare that you won't be able to encounter while searching. That is also what makes collecting Canadian coins so appealing to me - I have found valuable rarities among bulk and "junk" lots with some regularity!

Finding Cash in Your Collection

This will be broader than just looking in bulk or junk lots and the focus here is to look into the most valuable Canadian coins that are actually circulated and can be found as you look through your favorite coin source.

Where We WON'T be Looking

Now, one way to answer the question would be to discuss auction records for the highest prices ever achieved for any Canadian coins at auction. That is certainly interesting, but not how this space will be used.

Gavel from an Auction

This also isn't going to look into highest priced items currently available for purchase because the asking price isn't what is generally agreed to be an item's value.

So, where does that leave us - we're going to talk about the best items that you'll be able to find in completed or partial coin albums, bulk lots, and some that are individually available for purchase but currently don't have the premium that might be expected in the future.

Finding the Gems

It's worth mentioning as we get into this that I LOVE searching through coins for overlooked gems. This is really where my passion has been since I started collecting. I'll describe the starting point as "a bag of random coins" because that's generally the type of grab bag that I start with.

Coin dealers (local coin shops, antique store sellers, and online auction sellers) typically have a focus - around me, they are focused on US coins. Anything that doesn't match their focus will be roughly sorted by removing any big silver coins and gold with the remainder being bulked out in lots with minimal additional search. That is my favorite place to be. I'll pay the seller's price if reasonable and it looks like the coins "have some age" and do the research myself. I have been pretty successful with that approach. I will go into the valuable coins to look for a little later.

A previous article I've written goes into more detail about how to efficiently sort through and find the best coins from a collection (or in this case a bulk lot) so I'll leave the details out at this point.

Another option to find valuable coins is by purchasing partially or fully complete coin folders and albums. I've seen quite a few complete albums of lesser collected coins (Canadian small cents for example) for very low prices and still including the key dates for the collection.

Complete Canadian small cents with 1923 and 1925

Finally, as you get to know the more valuable Canadian coins by date, you will start recognizing the deals to jump on it when you see them at an antique store or in a coin shop that doesn't specialize in coins from Canada. The recognition has helped me act early when I find great deals!

Copper, Nickel, Silver, and Gold

Copper: I've spent a lot of time looking through Canadian large and small copper cents because they're common, come in nearly all bulk lots, and frequently hide better date coins. I won the above complete set of small cents in a June auction for $35 that included the key date coins - they're available!!!

Nickel: My wife has probably heard me say "I can't pass up a good, cheap nickel lot if I see it" a dozen times... because I keep buying them! Last August, I attended a coin auction with one lot listed as "Miscellaneous Canadian Nickels." I paid $10 for 6 rolls - that was UNDER face value. That lot also happened to contain the 1925 (key date) nickel! You never know what you'll find in those lots. All that said, the vast majority of nickel coins are minimal premium over face and are not "valuable" coins.

Silver: Silver is really where the cross-over happens between coins being priced numismatically (for their collector value like you find in base metal coins) and for their melt price. This is where you find the most valuable coins (judged as percentage over either scrap or face value). I think it's because people value the intrinsic price in silver and combined that with rarity of the coin. That combination excites people into putting more value into silver rarities.

Gold: I have to admit, my budget hasn't allow me to add any large gold to my collection. That hasn't stopped me from watching asking price for gold coins at shops and monitoring auction results as they come in. Canada only had $5 and $10 gold coins that were issued between 1912 and 1914 (ignoring the modern collector gold and provincial gold pieces - e.g. Newfoundland $2 gold coin). Even with low mintage, the sold prices for these coins are generally governed by the scrap price for gold.

Most Valuable by Type

I'll organize these coins into the most valuable coins of each type for every sovereign. That will be an easy reference for you to use in the future:

Queen Victoria - Victorian Types:

1 Cent: 1858; 1891 (small date), and 1894

5 Cent (silver): 1875 and 1884 H mint

10 Cent: 1872 H, 1875 H, 1883 H, 1889, and 1893 (round top 3)

20 Cent: 1858 (one year type coin)

25 Cent: 1875 H, 1885, 1887, and 1889. This coin type has multiple more "better date" or semi-key date coins

50 Cent: 1870 (no LCW under portrait), 1890, 1894, and 1889.

King Edward VII - Edwardian Types:

1 Cent: 1907 H

5 Cent (silver): 1902 H (small H), 1909 (pointed leaves), and 1910 (round leaves)

10 Cent: 1903 (no mint), 1908, and 1909 (broad leaves)

25 Cent: 1904, 1906 (small crown - very rare, won't find in general purchases), and 1908

50 Cent: 1904 and 1905

Sovereign: All - 1908C is most valuable

King George V Types:

1 Cent: 1920 (large cent, high grade only), 1923, 1925, and 1936 dot below date

5 Cent (silver): 1915

5 Cent (nickel): 1925 and 1926 far 6

10 Cent: 1913 (large leaves) and 1936 dot (rare)

25 Cent: 1915 and 1936 dot (rare)

50 Cent: 1911, 1921 (rare, won't find in general purchases), 1932, and 1934

5 Dollar: all about the same price based on spot price of gold

10 Dollar: all about the same price based on spot price of gold

Sovereign: 1916C (not one you'll find); 1913C is the most valuable you may encounter

King Edward VIII:

There were no regular issued coins depicting King Edward VIII

King George VI Types:

1 Cent: only high grade coins

5 Cent (nickel): 1947 dot and 1951 high relief

10 Cent: only high grade coins

25 Cent: 1947 dot after 7

50 Cent: 1946 (hoof in 6), 1947 maple leaf, and 1948

1 Dollar: 1935 and 1936

Queen Elizabeth II Types (excluding modern collector issue coins):

1 Cent: 1955 (without shoulder strap)

5 Cent (nickel): 1953 (no strap, near leaf) and 1953 (strap, far leaf)

10 Cent: 1956 dot below date

25 Cent: 1954

50 Cent: 1953 (large date without strap)

1 Dollar: 1955 (Arnprior with 1 1/2 waterlines)

Future Prospects and Comparison to Similar US Coins

Right now, there are fewer Canadian coin collectors than United States coin collectors. I think it's for that reason that coins from Canada sell for significantly less than US coins of similar mintage.

The 1934 Canadian 25 cents had about 420,000 coins minted and is valued marginally over the scrap silver price in low grade. The 1932 US quarter from Denver had about 440,000 coins minted and are worth about 10 times as much as the Canadian 25 cents.

Now I'm not able to predict the future, but I certainly suspect that as time goes on, the difference in value between comparable coins from each country will be reduced. Don't take this observation as advice on where to spend your money but you should recognize that there is a lot of potential in the future of Canadian coin collecting.

Finding Value is Always Fun

After this discussion about the most valuable Canadian coins, I hope you are as excited about this area of coin collecting as I am. I have spent a lot of my time searching out these coins and have been lucky enough to find some of these high end coins at reasonable prices.

I wish you the best of luck in your searches and hopefully this list is a great resource for you as you carry on searching!