Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
50 Cents - Victoria
| Issuer | Royal Canadian Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 1870-1901 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Round |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Left-facing draped bust of Queen Victoria, wearing a small ornate crown set upon her hair, which is elaborately dressed and gathered at the nape with a ribbon. The portrait, engraved by Leonard Charles Wyon, presents the young laureate effigy in high relief against a flat field. A continuous Latin legend reads VICTORIA DEI GRATIA REGINA around the upper periphery, with CANADA inscribed along the lower border, all separated from the toothed rim by a fine raised border. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Canada's first fifty-cent piece was authorized under the Dominion coinage act of 1870, the same legislation that established a unified decimal currency following Confederation. Production was contracted to the Heaton Mint in Birmingham for several years before Ottawa established its own facility, meaning a meaningful share of Victorian-era Canadian halves were struck abroad and shipped across the Atlantic for circulation.
The 1875-H is the key date, with a mintage so low it remains disputed among specialists. The 1900 issue saw a last production run under Victoria before her death in January 1901.