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Royal Canadian Mint Marks a Decade of $2 Coins with a new Mint Mark |
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At the Canadian Numismatic Association convention in Niagara Falls this weekend, Ian Bennett, the new President and C.E.O. of the Royal Canadian Mint, unveiled a new Mint Mark, which will start appearing on circulating coins, with a commemorative $2 coin, next month. The 10th year $2 coin shows a new version of the polar bear and a stylized sun, and features a new mint logo Mint Mark, which is meant to start appearing on collector and made for circulation coins between now and the end of 2006. The Mint, of course, has a number of collector coin sets featuring the new Mint Mark, the best of which are available from Brian Grant Duff at http://www.allnationsstampandcoin.com. Mint Marks, usually a letter, letters, or a symbol, denoting the Mint where the coins were struck have appeared on Canadian coin before. Most recently a W for the Winnipeg Mint cropped up on some issues. A C for Canada and an H for the Heaton Mint in Birmingham, England, have previously graced Canadian Coins. C Mint marks also appeared on Newfoundland coins struck at the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa. Lettered Mint Marks can be confusing. For example if the Royal Canadian Mint had used an O for Ottawa this might have been confused with the O for New Orleans Mint Mark used by the United States Mint. |
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Mint Marks usually appear on the Obverse or head side of coins. The letters can get a little crowded as the coin designer’s, and or engraver’s initials, often end up on the issued coin also. The Royal Canadian Mint’s new Mint Mark is actually a stylized Mint logo. It is unclear whether this corporate branding will also be a feature of coins struck by our Mint for other countries. The Logo/Mint Mark incorporates a stylized M for Mint and Monnaie, topped by a crownesque maple leaf, and surrounded by a circle. The main elements of the design are also intended to represent a coin being struck from a die. The Royal Canadian Mint’s Mark should be an assurance of quality for our Mint products offered globally. |
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| Perhaps the new Mint Mark will get ordinary Canadians more interested in their coinage and its history and give the Mint a chance to reflect its global reach on all the coins it strikes. Likewise, perhaps a clearer Mint identity will give global citizens an opportunity to explore the history of Canadian Coins. Prior to there being a Canada, coins from the U.S., Great Britain, France, and Spain were used in Colonial Canada and in the Hudson’s Bay Company Territories. Because of a shortage of coins, merchants prepared tokens for use in Colonial Canada. These were generally struck in the U.K., but were sometimes made locally, including crude efforts, and coins forged by blacksmiths. | ||
 Although Canada became a country in 1867, national coins were still produced in the U.K. until the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa began national coin production in 1908.
Today, Royal Canadian Mints in Ottawa and Winnipeg produce collector and made for circulation coins for Canada and other nations. The Mint uses a plating process, which has been denoted by a P for plating Mark in recent years. The disappearance of the P on recent coins may be due to the Mint’s desire to incorporate their new logo/Mint Mark into our coin designs. |
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Newsletter #84 |
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