2010 Navy Centennial Loonie
The 2010 Navy Centennial Loonie is a circulating loonie with 7 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2010
- Circulation mintage
- 7,000,000
- Value band
- Face value
- Designer
- Bonnie Ross
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 2010 Navy Centennial Loonie worth?
7 million were made, so the 2010 Navy Centennial 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 2010 Navy Centennial Loonie rare?
- No. 7 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2010 Navy Centennial Loonie coins were made?
- 7,000,000 were struck for circulation.
- Who designed the 2010 Navy Centennial Loonie?
- The design is credited to Bonnie Ross.
- What is the 2010 Navy Centennial 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 2010 Navy Centennial Loonie still legal tender?
- Yes. Every loonie, commemoratives included, is legal tender in Canada.
Why the 2010 Navy Centennial Loonie was made
Canada's navy was created by an act of Parliament in 1910, starting with a handful of ships and a small band of sailors. It grew enormously during the Second World War, when Canadian ships played a large part in protecting convoys across the Atlantic. For the centennial in 2010 the Royal Canadian Mint issued a loonie honoring a hundred years of naval service. Its first ships were HMCS Niobe and HMCS Rainbow, two older cruisers bought from Britain. Today the navy operates on the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic coasts.
The timing has a footnote. In 2010 the navy was still officially known as Maritime Command, the name it carried after the armed forces were unified in 1968. The historic title Royal Canadian Navy was restored in 2011, the year after this coin appeared. The loonie went into circulation with a mintage of 7,000,000, lower than the big lucky loonie runs of the same period but still enough to turn up in change. Navy families and veterans saved plenty of them, so it remains one of the better known service anniversary coins.
How to recognize it
Bonnie Ross designed the reverse, which places two sailors side by side to span the century. One is a naval serviceman from 1910 and the other is a modern female naval officer, a pairing that shows how much the service changed in a hundred years. An anchor completes the scene. Look for the two figures together: no other loonie shows a pair of sailors from different eras. The obverse carries Susanna Blunt's portrait of the Queen and the date 2010 confirms the year. The contrast between their uniforms shows the century between them. It is a good design to examine with a magnifier, since the details are small.
2010 Navy Centennial Loonie by the numbers
In mintage terms the 2010 Navy Centennial Loonie ranks 11th lowest of 19 circulating loonies with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2004 Lucky Loonie Loonie (6.53 million); the next more common is the 2009 Montreal Canadiens Loonie (10 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1992 Confederation 125 Loonie with 23 million, about 3.3 times as many. The scarcest is the 2019 Equality Loonie with 3 million, 2.3 times fewer than this one.
It was released in 2010 alongside 2 other circulating loonie designs: the Saskatchewan Roughriders (3.1 million) and the Lucky Loonie (10.3 million). 1 of them had a smaller run.
What to check on your 2010 Navy Centennial Loonie
- Confirm the design and date: the Navy Centennial reverse dated 2010. 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.
Seven million struck for circulation is a moderate figure for a commemorative loonie. It is lower than the 2010 lucky loonie, so you are less likely to find it in change, but circulated pieces remain face value coins. Uncirculated examples with clean faces on both figures can earn a small premium. The faces and the anchor are the high points, so check them first for rubbing. If yours is mounted in a card or sealed holder, it came from a collector product, while loose coins with handling marks came from circulation.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 dollar |
| Issuer | Royal Canadian Mint |
| Year | 2010 |
| Circulation mintage | 7,000,000 |
| Composition | Nickel plated with aureate bronze |
| Weight | 7.0 g |
| Diameter | 26.5 mm |
| Shape | 11-sided |
| Edge | Plain |
| Designer | Bonnie Ross |
Other 2010 loonies
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 Lucky Loonie Loonie | 10,250,000 | Face value |
| 2010 Saskatchewan Roughriders Loonie | 3,100,000 | Face value |
Frequently asked questions
Who is on the 2010 Navy loonie?
The reverse shows a naval serviceman from 1910 beside a modern female naval officer, with an anchor. Designed by Bonnie Ross, it marks the centennial of Canada's navy, created by an act of Parliament in 1910.
How many Navy centennial loonies were minted?
The Royal Canadian Mint made 7,000,000 for circulation. That is fewer than many commemorative loonies of the same years, but still common enough that worn examples are face value. Navy veterans and their families saved many.
Mintage figures: Loonie (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Canadian Mint figures. How we build these pages.