Talk:Penny (Canadian coin)/Archive 1

2005
if it's 95% steel and nickel, why doesn't it stick to a magnet? Kwantus 14:57, 2005 May 7 (UTC)

last time I checked, copper pennies didn't stick to magnets, steel ones do. Jeff 5:21, 2005 Oct 7 (UTC)


 * According to the Mint's website, current pennies (2000-) are "94% steel, 1.5% nickel, 4.5% copper plating or copper-plated zinc". The Haxby & Willey guide Coins of Canada, 2003 edition makes no mention of circulation pennies made using steel, just copper-plated zinc.  Plus, I can't find any recent pennies that do stick to magnets, leading me to believe that circulation pennies are the zinc ones. Aottley 21:47, 8 October 2005 (UTC)

Steel content
My 2000- pennies also don't stick to magnets. Can we please find out the truth and get this fixed while I find my tin-foil hat. --RedACE 02:48, 14 June 2006 (UTC)


 * After some more googling I found an article which describes which pennies are magnetic. Pennies from 2003-2004 with a (p) under the Queen's head are made of steel and therefore magnetic. I tested with a lot of pennies I had and found one with a (p) under the head -- it was magnetic. Still need to do more research... --RedACE 03:11, 14 June 2006 (UTC)


 * All of the coins with a (P) under the head are steel plated, most others are not Blacknail 20:47, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

I can confirm this. Also, pennies from 2011 with a crown symbol under the queen are ferromagnetic as well.Dazalc (talk) 21:20, 25 March 2012 (UTC)

Metal Content Incorrect?
After playing around with a Plumbers Torch (which is hot enough to melt zinc, but not copper or steel) and a small magnet (sticks to steel but not copper or zinc). I have found the following while testing 10 coins from each year (1997 to 2006).

Canadian Penny base metals 1997-2006

1997 9 Zinc, 1 copper

1998-2002 Zinc

2003 8 Steel 2 Zinc

2004 2 Steel 8 Zinc

2005-2006 Zinc

A large rock 04:58, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Your 1997 copper penny might have been one of the earliest 1997s; the 1996 penny was 98% copper, and it seems you caught them on switch-over day. :) I wonder what caused the differences in the other coins... using up leftover zinc? Repairs to new machinery, thus going back to old machinery for a while? Price of steel went up? I wonder if the mint would tell you when you asked. TooManyFingers (talk) 19:44, 24 July 2021 (UTC)

Value of metal content
I removed the link to the anti-penny campaign - although a link to some anti-penny campaign might be appropriate, that particular one contains the misleading claim that the metal content of the coin is worth 1.25 cents. Current metal prices are available from (steel) and  (copper and nickel); those pages quote US$649 per metric tonne for the most expensive type of steel they quote, and US$3.4689 and US$9.1248 per pound for copper and nickel respectively, which (with the composition and weight given in the article) works out to Can$0.0033 per coin. The removed link was probably basing the calculation on an assumption of pure copper, which would work out to Can$0.018 per coin (it may have been closer to $0.0125 when it was written - copper has been rising). We should be more accurate.129.97.79.144 17:43, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I remember hearing the 1.25c thing on a news report, but they said that it was the cost of producing a penny; the only coin that cost more to produce than it was worth. The report went on to state however that the penny would not disappear, since the Mint took the view that producing the entire run of a year's coinage cost far less than the coins' face value, so there was a "net profit". They also discussed the financial impact of the loss of the penny: calculation of thins such as sales tax would most likely be rounded up to the nearest nickel, stores would lose revenue because any item with a price of $1.99, for example, would either have to lower the price to $1.95 (and lose 4c per item) or raise the price to $2.00 (and lose the psychological effect of having a price of "less than $2"). I wish I could find a reference for it. --SigPig 08:46, 11 July 2006 (UTC)


 * The US penny does cost around 1.25 cents per penny, could that be the confusion? At any rate, the rounding isn't an issue.  There's no reason you couldn't still have $1.99 even if there was no actual penny.  Rounding isn't an issue until the total, and only if you pay in cash Nik42 08:50, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

I need to see the special coins! I'm a collector you know!

http://www.coinflation.com/canada/ shows current metal value of Canadian coins. The steel ones are not currently included though.--Eloil 06:10, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Update Picture
The current picture shows a 2005 penny. Is there a way this can be improved? 70.73.77.83 16:08, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

I don't think it's particularly important that the image show the current year as long as the design is current. Since 2006 pennies have had the new RCM logo mintmark though, so it would be good to change the image to show this.--Eloil 05:54, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Status of the old Large Cents?
I know the Canadian Mint began removing the old large cents (1920 and earlier) from circulation begining in Nov. 1937, but what is their status today? Are they still legal tender? Were they demonetisized? (however you spell that word)  If I took the two large cents I have to a bank in Canada could I get two modern pennys? - Not that I would mind you, I'm just curious. Thank You. Gecko G 09:54, 17 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Any Royal Canadian Mint coins remain legal tender forever - you can also still use $1 and $2 bills if you want (a few years ago a coin collecting place I visited in Alberta was actually giving them back as change) - but most businesses will not accept them and there's no point in using them as legal tender as their collector value far outweighs their face value. A good-condition large cent can be worth $10 or more, for example. And the small 5 cent coins can potentially be worth hundreds of dollars or at least far more than 5 cents in silver content alone; similarly the large cents have copper content that outweigh their face value, something I expect will make the melting down of the small cents quite lucrative for the Mint. 70.72.223.215 (talk) 13:07, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

I'm confused. Isn't it the entire concept of "legal tender" that anyone being paid with it *must* accept it? If it only meant they had the *option* of accepting it, well, they will always have the *option* of accepting absolutely anything. TooManyFingers (talk) 20:10, 24 July 2021 (UTC)

Maple Leaf on the Coin not a Maple
Dont have a reference for this but I do have some botanical understanding. One of the characters of the maple family, Acer is to have opposite leaf attachment, which means 2 leaves come off the node (stem) at exactly the same location ie side by side. This is consistant for all members of the maple family regardless of species. The image depicted on the penny is of alternate leaf attachment and thus cannot possibly be a maple. It is likely an artist making a mistake to better fit the leaves onto the coin, without knowledge of the Acer family in my opinion and not some other tree species depicted though it could be possible as well.--205.200.226.35 (talk) 09:01, 30 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, the twig is anatomically incorrect but it is supposed to be a maple.   Kruger Gray did not know that such symmetry was impossible in natural maple leaves.  Gecko G (talk) 06:41, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

The image depicted is a Sycamore leaf. Observe leaves attach to twig in alternate fashion. Maple leaves attach opposite. 207.216.49.213 (talk) 02:54, 21 October 2008 (UTC)R. Stirling

12 sided
Why did it have angled edges for 14 years? SchmuckyTheCat (talk)


 * Presumably to assist the sigh-impaired. http://www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/penny-quiz/ Cplbeaudoin (talk) 04:06, 4 March 2013 (UTC)


 * It would be really great to have a photo of one of the 12-sided pennies on the page! Ba2kell (talk) 14:10, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

120 (one hundred and twenty) circles on the canadian penny
There are 120 circles around the edge of the canadian penny just inside the the rim. I scanned and counted one. Thought people might want to know! Do they have a technical name in the numismatic community?

The row of tiny dots or round bumps near the edge? Those are called "beads", "beading", or a "beaded edge". On Canadian pennies that are a little older than the one you were looking at, you'll find "denticles" or "dentils" instead of beading. I don't know when the switch occurred. TooManyFingers (talk) 19:29, 24 July 2021 (UTC)

number of coins in circulation
Does anyone know of any sources estimating the total number of pennies in Canada?

Dazalc (talk) 21:16, 25 March 2012 (UTC)

Collector coins?
Do we know yet if the RCM plans to continue producing one-cent coins for collectors? Not saying keeping the maple leaf one going, but as part of special sets? It's not uncommon for them to make coins with uncommon denominations - they've issued several special-issue 3 cent coins in recent years, so I'd imagine they'd just add 1 cent to that list. 70.72.223.215 (talk) 13:12, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

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12 sided is "twelve rode rims"
A coin is one plus one sides and rim as rim is the unique of the account of the twelve as twelve sides asks two selectively express the 365 day year division as a twelve month year, for banking and taxes, possibly to eliminate the thirteen month twenty eight day four week even sided mystical door of even flow. as it will be easer to see the thirteen rim coin as a day is missing for the year. so the coin is to remind every good man this is a mystical thing as life is a coin for the watch, spec-tic-ally I the 2 dollar coin as also is implied.


 * Uh... huh? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ba2kell (talk • contribs) 14:11, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

It's actually 1 day plus approximately 5⅚ hours - mystically explain that! :) TooManyFingers (talk) 19:59, 24 July 2021 (UTC)