1858 Canadian Nickel
The 1858 Canadian Nickel is a Canadian nickel struck for circulation with 1.5 million made. Value band: metal value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1858
- Circulation mintage
- 1,500,000
- Value band
- Metal value
- Composition
- Sterling silver (92.5% silver)
Original illustration of the coin's shape and metal. Tap to flip. Not a picture of the actual design.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is an 1858 Canadian Nickel worth?
The 1858 Canadian Nickel is a silver coin with 0.0345 troy ounces of pure silver, so its floor is its metal value: 0.0345 times the day's silver spot price. With 1.5 million made, worn examples trade for about their silver; collectors pay more for sharp, original coins and much more for uncirculated ones with full luster.
What would make yours worth more:
- Sharp detail with original luster
- A recognized variety for the date
- Professional grading for a key date
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 1858 Canadian Nickel rare?
- Not by mintage. 1.5 million were made, but it is silver, so even worn examples are worth their metal value rather than face value.
- How many 1858 Canadian nickels were made?
- 1,500,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1858 Canadian Nickel made of?
- Sterling silver (92.5% silver). It weighs 1.16 g and measures 15.5 mm.
- Is the 1858 Canadian Nickel still legal tender?
- Yes. Canadian 5-cent coins are legal tender, but a silver one is worth more for its metal than its face value.
The 1858 nickel in context
The 1858 five cents is where the whole story begins. That year the Province of Canada, the union of what are now southern Ontario and Quebec, changed its money of account from pounds, shillings and pence to dollars and cents. A new decimal system needed decimal coins, so the province ordered a full set from the Royal Mint in London. Alongside the bronze cent and the silver 10 and 20 cent pieces came this little silver five cents, the ancestor of the coin Canadians still call the nickel. The new coins had to compete with British and American silver that was already in everyday use.
The order for five cents came to 1,500,000 pieces, all dated 1858. The province then struck no more of the denomination at all. Confederation came in 1867 and the next five cents, dated 1870, were ordered by the new Dominion of Canada. That makes 1858 a one year issue for the Province of Canada and a natural first coin for anyone building a date run. Many saw long service in a country short of small change, so most survivors are well worn.
How to recognize it
Leonard Charles Wyon engraved the obverse, showing a young Queen Victoria facing left with a laurel wreath in her hair. That laureate head is the easiest way to separate an 1858 from later Victorian five cents, which show the queen wearing a crown. The reverse puts 5 CENTS and the date at the center of a wreath of maple leaves, with a crown at the top. The coin is struck in .925 fine sterling silver and weighs about 1.16 g. It is a very small coin, so a magnifier is a big help when you read the date. It measures only about 15.5 mm across, smaller than a modern dime.
1858 Canadian Nickel by the numbers
By the numbers, the 1858 Canadian Nickel ranks 21st lowest of 161 Canadian nickel dates and varieties from 1858 to 2024. The next scarcer is the 1871 Canadian Nickel (1.4 million); the next more common is the 1881 H Canadian Nickel (1.5 million).
For scale, the most common is the 2008 Canadian Nickel with 278.5 million, about 186 times as many. The scarcest is the 1884 Canadian Nickel with 200,000, 7.5 times fewer than this one.
Compared with the dates around it, the 1858 output was 1.9 times fewer than 1870.
What to check on your 1858 Canadian Nickel
- Check the date first: silver Canadian nickels carry dates from 1858 to 1921; this one has 0.0345 troy oz. Silver coins are not magnetic and ring clearly when dropped on a hard surface.
- Never clean it. Rubbing or polishing leaves fine scratches that collectors spot at once and that cut the value of silver dates sharply.
- Look at the high points of the portrait and the design. Wear there sets the grade. The grade in turn drives the value of older five cent coins.
Two varieties are recorded in the mintage: the normal small date and a large date punched over a small date. The large over small date is the one specialists chase and you will need good magnification and a clear coin to see the traces of the smaller numerals. Even a worn ordinary 1858 draws a collector premium as the first year of the series. Check for holes and solder marks, since early silver was often used in jewelry. Natural gray or golden toning is normal on old silver and collectors prefer it to a scrubbed shine.
Queen Victoria silver five cents (1858 to 1901)
Canada's five cent piece started life as a tiny silver coin. In 1858 the Province of Canada moved its accounts from pounds, shillings and pence to dollars and cents, so it ordered new coins from the Royal Mint in London: a bronze cent plus silver 5, 10 and 20 cent pieces. The 5 cent weighed about 1.16 g of sterling (.925) silver and was barely bigger than a fingernail. Leonard Charles Wyon engraved a young laureate Victoria for the first issue. After Confederation the Dominion placed its own orders from 1870, now with a crowned portrait of the queen.
Canada had no mint of its own, so every one of these coins came from England. London struck most years, while Ralph Heaton & Sons of Birmingham filled several orders and marked them with a small H on the reverse. The reverse barely changed in more than forty years: 5 CENTS and the date inside a wreath of maple leaves with a crown on top. Production came in bursts. Nothing was dated 1859 to 1869, 1873, 1876 to 1879 or 1895 and yearly totals swing from 200,000 to 3,000,000.
Start with the date and check for an H, since the pair identifies the issue. The low mintage years are the ones to hope for: 1884 above all, then 1887, 1894 and 1898, with 1875-H scarcer than its total suggests. These coins were easy to lose and were often holed or made into jewelry, which is part of why decent survivors are hard to find. On a worn piece the hair detail and the leaf veins go first. Collectors also hunt small date varieties, such as overdates and different sizes of numeral, recorded in the mintage notes.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 5 cents |
| Issuer | Royal Canadian Mint |
| Year | 1858 |
| Circulation mintage | 1,500,000 |
| Composition | Sterling silver (92.5% silver) |
| Weight | 1.16 g |
| Diameter | 15.5 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Reeded |
Frequently asked questions
Why does an 1858 five cents look different from an 1870?
The 1858 was issued by the Province of Canada and shows Victoria with laurel leaves in her hair. From 1870 the Dominion of Canada used a new portrait with the queen wearing a crown, so the two are easy to tell apart.
How can you spot the large over small date?
Look closely at each numeral of 1858 under strong magnification. On the variety the larger digits sit over smaller ones and you can see extra edges or outlines around them. A worn date can hide this, so get a second opinion.
Mintage figures: Nickel (Canadian coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Canadian Mint figures. How we build these pages.