1911 Canadian Nickel

Quick answers

Is the 1911 Canadian Nickel rare?

Not by mintage. 3.69 million were made, but it is silver, so even worn examples are worth their metal value rather than face value.

How many 1911 Canadian nickels were made?

3,692,350 were struck for circulation.

What is the 1911 Canadian Nickel made of?

Sterling silver (92.5% silver). It weighs 1.17 g and measures 15.5 mm.

Is the 1911 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.

How to recognize it

Sir Bertram Mackennal designed the portrait of George V, crowned and wearing robes of state. On this one year the legend is GEORGIUS V REX ET IND: IMP: alone, which gives the coin a slightly sparse look compared with 1912 and later. The reverse is the familiar maple wreath and crown around 5 CENTS and the date. The coin is sterling silver at about 1.17 g. Checking the legend is the quickest way to identify the year if the date is worn. The king faces left, as George V does on all his coins, while Edward VII before him faced right.

1911 Canadian Nickel by the numbers

Measured by how many were made, the 1911 Canadian Nickel ranks 50th lowest of 161 Canadian nickel dates and varieties from 1858 to 2024. The next scarcer is the 1930 Canadian Nickel (3.69 million); the next more common is the 1934 Canadian Nickel (3.83 million).

For scale, the most common is the 2008 Canadian Nickel with 278.5 million, about 75 times as many. The scarcest is the 1884 Canadian Nickel with 200,000, 18 times fewer than this one.

Compared with the dates around it, the 1911 output was 1.6 times fewer than 1910 and 1.6 times fewer than 1912.

Over the 1910s the Mint produced 48.3 million five cent coins across 10 dates and varieties; the 1911 Canadian Nickel accounts for 7.7% of that.

What to check on your 1911 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.

The 1911 five cents is common in circulated grades, but demand for it is steady because of the Godless story. Read the legend: no DEI GRA confirms your coin. A crisp example with clear detail in the crown and robes is the one to aim for. The same omission affected the cent, 10, 25 and 50 cents of 1911. Even when the date is worn, the shorter legend usually remains readable enough to identify the year. Cleaned coins are common, so check the surfaces for fine parallel hairlines.

George V silver five cents (1911 to 1921)

George V's portrait by Sir Bertram Mackennal arrived in 1911 and started with a famous blunder. The legend left out DEI GRA, the phrase meaning by the grace of God, so the 1911 coins were quickly nicknamed Godless. After public complaints the phrase was restored in 1912 and stayed. The reverse kept the maple wreath and crown around 5 CENTS and the date. The coin was still tiny at about 1.17 g and still struck in Ottawa.

War pushed output up. Mintages climbed from just over a million in 1915 to nearly eleven million in 1920. Silver prices also rose sharply after the war, so from 1920 the fineness was cut from .925 to .800. By then the little coin had plenty of critics, since it was easy to drop and lose. In 1922 Canada replaced it with a much larger coin made of nickel. Most of the 1921 silver five cents were still at the mint when the switch came and were melted down, turning an ordinary mintage into one of the great Canadian rarities.

Check the legend first: no DEI GRA means a 1911. The 1915 is the scarce circulation date of the group with a mintage of 1,172,258, while 1917 to 1920 are the easiest to find. Any 1921 deserves careful study, because genuine pieces are very rare and altered dates exist. As with earlier silver, look at the crown and leaf veins for wear and be wary of coins that shine too brightly, which usually means they were cleaned.

Mintage chart

Specifications

Frequently asked questions