Silver Dollar

That's one reason I never got into the varieties. >< I never had the patience to go around counting those things, and I can't judge so accurately where they end up in relation to other features on the coins.

By looking at the close up picture of these coins in the Charlton Standard Catalogue for Canadian Coins, you can see the difference in beads size with the naked eye. As you probably can guess, the "small beads" are, well, smaller. . The 1966 small beads dollar used the same small beads obverse die from the 1965 dollar, which had to be replaced because it gave poor die life. It looks like the small beads relief is flatter than the large beads. But based on the picture in the catalogue, which shows a section of the obverse (above the letters GIN in REGINA), there does not seem to be a difference in the number of beads.

The catalogue also indicates that the 1966 small beads were probably produced for numismatic sets only, and the mintage has been estimated at 500. These coins were struck with "proof-like" dies and the finish is mixed between mint state and proof like. It is well worth determining if you have one. The 1966 small beads in EF-40 condition is $2,000; MS-63 is $3,500. etc.