1858

The crossed maple boughs
Designed by Leonard C. Wyon, The two crossed maple boughs appeared on all 5-cent coins from 1858 to 1921, but there were a few different die varieties.

These coins were nicknamed "fish scales" for their tiny size - their diameter is only 15.5 mm (smaller than the current dime!)

The 1858 design featured 21 maple leaves and a wide rim with long denticles.

The first dies used small, widely spaced digits in the date. Later strikings used larger digits punched over the small digits, which made the digits closer to each other.

1870 Wide rim

1870 Narrow rim:

The crossed maple boughs
Designed by Leonard C. Wyon.
For the first coins struck in 1870, the design used on the 1858 coins were re-used (21 leaf wide rim).

Before the 1870 production was complete, new master dies were introduced, so for 1870 there are two versions available:
- 21 leaves, Wide rim, long denticles
- 21 leaves, Narrow rim, short denticles

1870-1881, 1890-1901

The crossed maple boughs (Narrow 21)
Designed by Leonard C. Wyon, The Narrow Rim 21 Leaves design appeared on all 5-cent coins from late 1870 through to 1901.

1882-1889

The Crossed Maple Boughs
Designed by Leonard C. Wyon.
From 1882 to 1889 a design was used that features a narrow rim, short denticles and 22 leaves.

1902

The Crossed Maple Boughs
Designed by George W. Desaulles.
This design features a narrow rim, short denticles and 21 leaves.

1903H

The Crossed Maple Boughs
Probably designed by George W. Desaulles.
This design features a narrow rim, short denticles and 21 leaves. This slight variation in the 1902 design was only used for one year at the Heaton Mint.

1903-1909 Round (Maple) Leaves

Designed by W. H. J. Blakemore.
This design features a narrow rim, short denticles and 22 leaves with more rounded points.

1909-1910 Pointed(Holly) Leaves

Designed by W. H. J. Blakemore.
This design features a narrow rim, short denticles and 22 leaves.

In 1909 the existing (1903-1908) reverse was modified to create a variety in which the Maple leaves have sharper points, making them look like Holly leaves.

1911-1921

Designed by W. H. J. Blakemore.
This design features a narrow rim, short denticles and 22 leaves.

1922 - 1936

The Two Maple Leaves
W.H.J. Blackmore's redesign of the 5-cent coin coincided with the increase of the coin's diameter. 1922 was also the year that the Mint stopped manufacturing 5 cent pieces from silver, choosing pure nickel instead.

1937 - 1942, 1963 - 1966, 1968 - present

The Beaver (Round Rim)
The beaver design was created in 1937 by George Edward Kruger-Gray as part of a coin modernization effort. The beaver has a long history in Canada as both commodity and cultural icon. The Hurons honoured the beaver hundreds of years ago as the totem of their tribe. Native peoples used the beaver emblem to sign treaties with the first colonists. Since then the beaver has appeared in the heraldic bearings of Quebec City and Montreal and even marked Canada's first postage stamp.

Note: All 1937 5 cent coins included a dot to the right of the date, so this is not considered a variety. The designer felt the dot was needed to balance the design due to lean of the 7 creating a bigger gap to the right than the left of the date:

1942 TOMBAC 12 Sided (Beaver):

The standard Beaver design was used for all 1942 coins.

Five-cent coins were made of nickel from 1921 to 1942. However, the importance of nickel in the production of war materials demanded the development of another metal for coinage.

Partway through the 1942 production run, Tombac (a brass alloy) was chosen as the replacement material and was used until early in the 1944 production run.

There was concern that a tarnished tombac coin would be too similar to the one cent coin, so the 5-cent coin featured 12 sides to distinguish it from the one-cent coin.

1943-1944 TOMBAC 12 Sided (Victory):

The standard Beaver design was used for all 1942 coins.
For 1943-1945, Thomas Shingles created the "Victory" design to promote the war effort. The normal denticles were replaced in this design with the phrase "We Win When We Work Willingly", translated into Morse Code.

Five-cent coins were made of nickel from 1921 to 1942. However, nickel's importance in the production of war materials demanded the development of another metal for coinage.

Partway through the 1942 production run Tombac, a kind of brass, was chosen as the replacement material and was used until early in the 1944 production run.

There was concern that a tarnished tombac coin would be too similar to the one cent coin, so the 5-cent coin featured 12 sides to distinguish it from the one-cent coin.

1944-1945 STEEL (Victory):

Part way through the 1944 production run it was decided to abandon the tombac material and switch to nickel and chromium plated steel material, and all but one of the tombac 1944 coins were melted down.

1946 - 1950, 1951 - 1962

Reverse: The 12-sided Beaver coin
After the war ended, the Beaver design was resumed, but it was decided to keep the 12 sided edge.


In 1948, India was granted independance from the British Empire. Because of this, the words "ET IND IMP" had to be removed from all coin dies. Delays in the manufacturing of the new dies meant that a short term solution had to be found in order to produce the 1948 coins. A Maple Leaf was added to the right of the date on all 1947 dies.
For this reason much fewer 1948 coins were struck.

Note that in 1951 and 1952 5 cent coins were struck from the same nickel and chromium plated steel that was used in 1944-45, due to the Korean war requirements for nickel.

1947 Maple Leaf

In 1948, India was granted independance from the British Empire. Because of this, the words "ET IND IMP" (And Emperor of India) had to be removed from all obverse coin dies.
There was a demand for new 1948 coins, but delays in the manufacture of the updated dies forced the Mint into a second production run using the 1947 dies. To differentiate regular 1947 coins from the second production run a small maple leaf was engraved to the right of the date on the reverse dies:

1951 Commemorative

In 1951, a special commemorative five-cent piece depicting a nickel refinery was struck to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the metal's initial discovery by Swedish chemist Axel F. Cronstedt.
The design was chosen from entries submitted to the Mint in an open competition.

Due to the onset of the Korean War, production of this commemorative was halted to preserve nickel for the war effort, resulting in a second non-commemorative 1951 "nickel" made of plated steel, using the traditional 12 sided Beaver design.

1967 Centennial

Reverse: The centennial 5-cent coin
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Confederation, Alex Colville created a special set of designs for all coin denominations. The five-cent coin features a running rabbit.

2002 Commemorative

In 2002, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the date was moved to the obverse of the coin and changed to read "1952-2002".

2005 Victory Commemorative

To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, the Victory design used in 1945 was resurrected, but with the dates "1945 2005" on the reverse.

2017 Canada150

While the standard Beaver design was used for the classic 5 cent coin (only produced for the "Classic Canadian Coin Set"), a special series of circulation coins were produced to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Confederation.


The Sesquicentennial 5 cent coin - "Living Traditions"

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of Confederation, a design contest was held among all ordinary citizens.

The five cent coin was designed by Gerald Gloade (a native Mi'kmaw artist from Nova Scotia).

This unique design features a beaver in the traditional style of the northeastern woodland tribes of the Algonkian people