1898 H Canadian Penny
The 1898 H Canadian Penny is a one-cent coin struck for circulation with 1 million made. Value band: collector premium. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1898
- Circulation mintage
- 1,000,000
- Value band
- Collector premium
- Composition
- Bronze (95.5% copper, 3% tin, 1.5% zinc)
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 an 1898 H Canadian Penny worth?
With 1 million struck, the 1898 H Canadian Penny ranks 5th lowest of the 151 Canadian cent dates and varieties we track. Collectors pay a collector premium even for worn examples. Sharp, uncirculated coins with no marks bring considerably more.
What would make yours worth more:
- Original red color rather than brown
- Sharp detail in the portrait and leaves
- 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 1898 H Canadian Penny rare?
- Yes, by the standards of Canadian pennies. With 1 million struck, the 1898 H Canadian Penny ranks 5th lowest of the 151 Canadian cent dates and varieties we track.
- How many 1898 H Canadian pennies were made?
- 1,000,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1898 H Canadian Penny made of?
- Bronze (95.5% copper, 3% tin, 1.5% zinc). It weighs 5.67 g and measures 25.4 mm.
- Is the 1898 H Canadian Penny still legal tender?
- Yes. The Royal Canadian Mint stopped distributing cents in 2013, but they remain legal tender. Cash payments are rounded to the nearest five cents, so most pennies now sit in jars or go to banks.
The 1898 penny in context
Heaton returned to Canadian cents in 1898 after an eight year gap, once again stepping in for London and striking one million coins in Birmingham. The 1897 order from London had been 1.5 million and the 1899 London run was 2.4 million, so the 1898-H stands out as a short batch between larger ones. It is the last but one Heaton cent of Victoria's reign; the final one, the 1900-H, came two years later.
These were busy years for Canada, with settlers heading west and the Klondike drawing attention to the north. Small change wore hard in daily use. Like the other one million dates, the 1898-H was spread thin from the start and lost a great deal to wear over the following decades. Many of the survivors are smooth, dark coins that can only be identified by the date and the small H, since the portrait and leaves have worn almost flat. Finding one with good detail takes patience and that is a big part of why it is a favored target for collectors working on the Victorian series.
How to recognize it
Victoria wears a diadem on the obverse, surrounded by VICTORIA DEI GRATIA REGINA CANADA. The reverse carries ONE CENT and 1898 inside a beaded circle, a maple vine around the rim and a small H below the date. A genuine coin measures 25.4 mm and weighs about 5.67 g. Check the 8s carefully. A worn 1893 or 1896 date can look like 1898 at first glance, but those were London strikes without an H, so the mint mark is a useful cross check. If the H is missing, the date is probably something else and a closer look at the last digit under side lighting will usually tell you what.
1898 H Canadian Penny by the numbers
By the numbers, the 1898 H Canadian Penny ranks 5th lowest of 151 Canadian cent dates and varieties from 1858 to 2012. The next scarcer is the 1894 Canadian Penny (1 million); the next more common is the 1900 Canadian Penny (1 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1981 Round Canadian Penny with 1.21 billion, about 1209 times as many. The scarcest is the 1858 Canadian Penny with 421,000, 2.4 times fewer than this one.
Compared with the dates around it, the 1898 output was 1.5 times fewer than 1897 and 2.4 times fewer than 1899.
Over the 1890s the Mint produced 14.8 million cents across 10 dates and varieties; the 1898 H Canadian Penny accounts for 6.8% of that.
What to check on your 1898 H Canadian Penny
- Confirm the variety: Heaton mint mark. Use a magnifier and compare with a reference picture before you assume you have the scarcer one.
- Check the color. Collectors describe copper cents as red, red-brown or brown; original red color is worth far more than toned or dull surfaces.
- Never clean it. Rubbing, polishing or dipping leaves fine scratches and an unnatural color that collectors spot at once.
- Look at the high points of the portrait and the lettering. Wear there sets the grade. The grade in turn drives the value of older cents.
A one million mintage makes the 1898-H a scarce date and it carries a collector premium in all grades. Mid grade coins with clear leaves and some hair detail are the sweet spot for many collectors. Uncirculated pieces are rare and a coin with original red color is something special. As with every key Victorian date, look for signs of cleaning, tooling or an added H. The letter should be crisp, properly centered under the date and the same color and texture as the surface around it.
Victoria large cents of the Dominion, 1876 to 1901
Confederation in 1867 created the Dominion of Canada, but it took nine more years before the new country needed cents of its own, because the province's 1859 stock was still being paid out. The first Dominion cents are dated 1876. They kept the 25.4 mm size and the familiar reverse of ONE CENT and the date in a beaded circle surrounded by a maple vine, but the coin got heavier: 5.67 g, one eightieth of a pound. Victoria now appears older, wearing a diadem, with the legend VICTORIA DEI GRATIA REGINA CANADA.
Canada still had no mint, so the cents came from England. The Royal Mint in London struck most years, while the private Heaton mint in Birmingham handled several orders and marked them with a small H below the date. The H years are 1876, 1881, 1882, 1890, 1898 and 1900 and 1900 was struck at both mints. Production was irregular. There are no cents dated 1877 to 1880, 1883, 1885 or 1889 and yearly mintages swing between one million and about four million.
Start by reading the date and checking for the H, because that pairing identifies the issue. The lowest mintages of the reign are the one million coin years: 1890-H, 1894, 1898-H and 1900 without an H. Those draw a collector premium even when worn. The four million dates such as 1876-H, 1882-H and 1888 are the easiest to find. These coins circulated for decades, so most are smooth. Sharp leaf veins, visible strands of hair and natural brown or red color are what separate a collector's coin from an ordinary one.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 cent |
| Issuer | Royal Canadian Mint |
| Year | 1898 |
| Circulation mintage | 1,000,000 |
| Composition | Bronze (95.5% copper, 3% tin, 1.5% zinc) |
| Weight | 5.67 g |
| Diameter | 25.4 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Plain |
Frequently asked questions
Is the 1898-H cent scarce?
Yes. Only one million were struck at the Heaton mint, putting it among the four lowest mintages of Victoria's Dominion cents. Even worn examples draw a collector premium and sharp coins are hard to find.
How do you tell an 1898-H from an 1898 without a mint mark?
There is no regular 1898 cent without the H. All of that year's cents came from Birmingham. If your coin has no H, recheck the date, since it may be an 1893 or 1896 from London.
Mintage figures: Penny (Canadian coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Canadian Mint figures. How we build these pages.