Canada — Edward VII (1901 — 1910)

The coins of Edward VII were struck from 1902 to 1910 in the same set as at the end of Victoria’s reign, a bronze cent and silver 5, 10, 25 and 50 cents, but with a crowned portrait of the king by George William de Saulles. During his reign, in 1908, Canada got a mint of its own.

The silver reverses took the new king’s crown: the 10, 25 and 50 cents were struck from 1902 to new designs by William Henry James Blakemore, while the 5 cents of 1902 still came out with the old reverse and Victoria’s crown, replaced in 1903. In 1910 the crown on the 25 cents grew larger and the wreath on the 50 cents was changed, so collectors tell “Victorian” and “Edwardian” leaves apart.

Until 1907 the coins were struck in London and, in some years, at the Heaton mint in Birmingham (mint mark H). On 2 January 1908 the Ottawa branch of the Royal Mint opened: Governor General Earl Grey struck its first coin, a 50-cent piece, and from that year all of Canada’s coins were made in the country itself. In 1931 the mint became the Royal Canadian Mint.