Canada — George V (1910 — 1936)

The coins of George V were struck in Ottawa from 1911 to 1936: a bronze cent, silver 5, 10, 25 and 50 cents and, towards the end of the reign, the first Canadian silver dollar. The crowned portrait of the king is the work of Bertram Mackennal.

The first coins of 1911 came out without the words DEI GRA, “by the grace of God”: they were nicknamed the “godless” coins, and the title was restored as early as 1912. In 1920 the large cent was replaced by a small one the size of the American cent, and the silver was lowered from 925 to 800 fine, as the metal had grown dearer after the war. From 1922 the tiny silver 5-cent “fish scale” gave way to a large nickel coin: Canada is one of the world’s leading nickel producers. The silver 5 and 50 cents of 1921 were melted down almost entirely and became great rarities: fewer than a hundred half dollars of that year are known.

In 1931 the Ottawa branch of the Royal Mint became the Royal Canadian Mint. For the king’s Silver Jubilee in 1935 a dollar with the voyageurs’ canoe by Emanuel Hahn was issued, and the design stayed on the regular dollar of 1936. Canada never issued coins of Edward VIII: early in 1937, before dies with George VI were ready, some cents, 10 and 25 cents were struck from the old 1936 dies marked with a small dot.