2006 Lucky Loonie Loonie
The 2006 Lucky Loonie Loonie is a circulating loonie with 10.5 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2006
- Circulation mintage
- 10,495,000
- Value band
- Face value
- Designer
- Jean-Luc Grondin
Original illustration of the coin's shape and metal. Tap to flip. Not a picture of the actual design.
Face value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 2006 Lucky Loonie Loonie worth?
10.5 million were made, so the 2006 Lucky Loonie Loonie is easy to find. A circulated one is worth face value; collectors pay a little more only for uncirculated coins.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition
- Specimen or proof finish from a Mint set
- Colored versions sold in collector packs
- A genuine mint error
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 2006 Lucky Loonie Loonie rare?
- No. 10.5 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2006 Lucky Loonie Loonie coins were made?
- 10,495,000 were struck for circulation.
- Who designed the 2006 Lucky Loonie Loonie?
- The design is credited to Jean-Luc Grondin.
- What is the 2006 Lucky Loonie Loonie made of?
- Nickel plated with aureate bronze. It weighs 7.0 g and measures 26.5 mm, with an 11-sided shape.
- Is the 2006 Lucky Loonie Loonie still legal tender?
- Yes. Every loonie, commemoratives included, is legal tender in Canada.
Why the 2006 Lucky Loonie Loonie was made
The second lucky loonie was issued for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. After the success of the Athens coin two years earlier, the Royal Canadian Mint repeated the idea and released the coin into everyday change, so fans across the country could carry a bit of luck while the team competed. The Turin Games gave Canada plenty to cheer about. Speed skater Cindy Klassen won five medals and the women's hockey team took gold again. It was the first lucky loonie released for a Winter Games, the setting closest to the original Salt Lake City story.
The year matters for another reason. In 2006 the Mint began placing its own logo on circulating coins as a mint mark, a change that collectors note when sorting loonies of this period. The Mint also produced 20,010 first strikes of this lucky loonie, a sign of the growing interest in the series. With 10,495,000 struck for circulation, the coin is common enough that many Canadians have handled one without realizing it was a special issue. If you keep a lucky loonie run, this is the second slot to fill.
How to recognize it
The reverse is by Jean-Luc Grondin, who had already designed the loonie for the 1997 tenth anniversary specimen set and would go on to design the 2008 lucky loonie too. His design keeps a loon as the main subject and pairs it with the Olympic rings, in keeping with the series. Because the lucky loonies share a theme, the date is the quickest way to tell them apart, so check for 2006 before anything else. The obverse carries the Queen in Susanna Blunt's portrait. If your coin has the rings and a 2006 date, you have the Turin issue. Wear shows first on the bird's head and the rings.
2006 Lucky Loonie Loonie by the numbers
Measured by how many were made, the 2006 Lucky Loonie Loonie ranks 15th lowest of 19 circulating loonies with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2010 Lucky Loonie Loonie (10.3 million); the next more common is the 2008 Lucky Loonie Loonie (10.9 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1992 Confederation 125 Loonie with 23 million, about 2.2 times as many. The scarcest is the 2019 Equality Loonie with 3 million, 3.5 times fewer than this one.
It was the only circulating commemorative loonie dated 2006.
What to check on your 2006 Lucky Loonie Loonie
- Confirm the design and date: the Lucky Loonie reverse dated 2006. The 11-sided shape and gold color make a loonie easy to tell from other coins.
- Check whether it has added color. Colored versions come from collector packs, not from change. Keep them in their packaging.
- Look for even plating. Worn spots that show a different metal underneath are normal wear, not an error.
- Specimen and proof loonies from Mint sets have mirror or satin finishes that circulation coins never have.
At 10,495,000 this coin sits among the higher mintages in the lucky loonie run, so circulated pieces are face value coins. Condition decides interest. A coin with no rubbing on the loon and clean, bright fields can earn a small premium, especially if it came straight from a roll. The 20,010 first strikes are a separate product sold in packaging and they are the version that draws a collector premium. If your coin is loose and shows handling marks, it came from circulation. If it is sealed and labeled, keep it that way.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 dollar |
| Issuer | Royal Canadian Mint |
| Year | 2006 |
| Circulation mintage | 10,495,000 |
| Composition | Nickel plated with aureate bronze |
| Weight | 7.0 g |
| Diameter | 26.5 mm |
| Shape | 11-sided |
| Edge | Plain |
| Designer | Jean-Luc Grondin |
Frequently asked questions
Which Olympics was the 2006 lucky loonie for?
It was made for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. It was the second official lucky loonie, following the 2004 coin for Athens and it went into general circulation in large numbers.
Who designed the 2006 lucky loonie?
Jean-Luc Grondin designed it. He also produced the 2008 lucky loonie and the 1997 specimen set design marking ten years of the loonie, so his work appears more than once in a loonie collection.
Mintage figures: Loonie (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Canadian Mint figures. How we build these pages.