25 Cents - Elizabeth II Canada Day

Issued to mark Canada Day 2004, this piece was part of the Royal Canadian Mint's expanding program of themed circulation quarters that had grown substantially since the 1999–2000 Millennium series. That earlier program — 12 different reverses issued across two years — proved commercially successful enough that the Mint continued producing commemorative 25-cent pieces well into the following decade. The nickel-plated steel composition, introduced for the denomination in 2000, was driven entirely by rising nickel commodity prices making the older solid nickel blanks economically unsustainable.