1932 Canadian Penny

Quick answers

Is the 1932 Canadian Penny rare?

No. 21.3 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.

How many 1932 Canadian pennies were made?

21,316,190 were struck for circulation.

What is the 1932 Canadian Penny made of?

Bronze (95.5% copper, 3% tin, 1.5% zinc). It weighs 3.24 g and measures 19.05 mm.

Is the 1932 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.

How to recognize it

The 1932 Canadian Penny is round, 19.05 mm across and bronze (95.5% copper, 3% tin, 1.5% zinc).

1932 Canadian Penny by the numbers

Measured by how many were made, the 1932 Canadian Penny ranks 62nd lowest of 151 Canadian cent dates and varieties from 1858 to 2012. The next scarcer is the 1938 Canadian Penny (18.4 million); the next more common is the 1939 Canadian Penny (21.6 million).

For scale, the most common is the 1981 Round Canadian Penny with 1.21 billion, about 57 times as many. The scarcest is the 1858 Canadian Penny with 421,000, 51 times fewer than this one.

Compared with the dates around it, the 1932 output was 5.5 times the 1931 figure and 1.8 times the 1933 figure.

Over the 1930s the Mint produced 113.1 million cents across 10 dates and varieties; the 1932 Canadian Penny accounts for 19% of that.

What to check on your 1932 Canadian Penny

• 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.

George V small cents, 1920 to 1936

In 1920 Canada replaced its big copper cent with a much smaller coin: 19.05 mm and 3.24 g, close in size to the cent used across the border. Some large cents dated 1920 were still struck before the change, so both sizes share the date. The small cent kept Mackennal's crowned George V and the corrected legend, but it got a new reverse with two maple leaves on a single stem, ONE CENT between them, CANADA above and the date below. The alloy stayed at 95.5% copper, 3% tin and 1.5% zinc.

The new coin was produced in huge numbers at first: more than fifteen million small cents in 1920 and over seven million in 1921. That left plenty in stock and output collapsed for the next five years. The mintages for 1922 to 1926 run from about one million to two million, with 1923 and 1925 the lowest. Those years are the keys of the whole small cent series. Output recovered in the late 1920s, dipped again to about 2.5 million in 1930 as the Depression set in, then jumped past 21 million in 1932.

George V died in January 1936. Cents dated 1936 still carry his portrait, because Edward VIII's coins were never issued in Canada. Cents dated 1936 with a small dot below the date were struck in early 1937 while dies for George VI were not ready, yet only a few are known today. For anything from 1922 to 1926, check the date with a magnifier, since key dates attract altered coins. Wear shows first on the crown and the leaf veins.

Mintage chart

Specifications