The Semi-Key Canadian Cents Of The 1920's

PCGS - A new era in Canadian numismatics commenced when Canada replaced its large cent with the smaller-sized one-cent coin in May 1920. The move was made due to the economics behind rising copper prices and the shrinking consumer value of a cent. Canada's large cent weighs 5.67 grams and has a diameter of 25.4 millimeters, whereas the small cent clicked in at only 3.24 grams and just 19.05 millimeters wide, thus the diameter of the reduced-size "new" cent was 25% smaller than that of its predecessor and a whopping 43% lighter.

Reigning upon the British throne at the time of these changes to the small cent in Canada was King George V, and his bust appears on the obverse of the diminutive copper coin, while the reverse bears two maple leaves surrounding the coin's date and the denomination "ONE CENT," capped atop by the inscription "CANADA." This reverse design for the small cent represent a significant departure from the reverse of the large cent, which features those same inscriptions within a large wreath of 16 maple leaves.

The first decade of production for the small cent was busy, and no year saw business-strike production of the coin fall below 1 million. However, several semi-key dates emerged during that time, with every date issued during the mid-1920s seeing mintages of less than 4 million and now worth far more than its face value, even in circulated grades. These semi-key dates include issues from 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, and 1927. All these dates are valuable in well-worn condition and are extremely scarce in uncirculated grades.


The 1922 Canada Cent is one of the scarcest business-strike representatives of the denomination from the 1920s

Mintages for these six dates vary from just over 1 million to approximately 3.5 million, which even in the case of the higher number is still scant from the standpoint of Canadian coinage output in the 1920s. Here's a breakdown of mintages for the six business-strike cents, year by year:

1922 - 1,243,635
1923 - 1,019,002
1924 - 1,593,195
1925 - 1,000,652
1926 - 2,143,372
1927 - 3,553,928

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