1955 No Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny
The 1955 No Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny is a one-cent coin struck for circulation with 56.4 million made. Value band: collector premium. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1955
- Circulation mintage
- 56,403,193
- Value band
- Collector premium
- Composition
- Bronze (98% copper, 0.5% 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 a 1955 No Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny worth?
The 1955 No Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny is a variety, so its scarcity is not visible in the published 56.4 million, which counts both the No Shoulder Fold and Shoulder Fold coins of 1955 together. Only a small share of 1955 cents are this variety, which is why collectors pay a collector premium for a confirmed example and much more for one in sharp, original condition.
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 1955 No Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny rare?
- Yes, by the standards of Canadian pennies. The 1955 No Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny is a variety, so its scarcity is not visible in the published 56.4 million, which counts both the No Shoulder Fold and Shoulder Fold coins of 1955 together.
- How many 1955 No Shoulder Fold Canadian pennies were made?
- 56,403,193 were struck for circulation (a combined figure for the No Shoulder Fold and Shoulder Fold varieties).
- What is the 1955 No Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny made of?
- Bronze (98% copper, 0.5% tin, 1.5% zinc). It weighs 3.24 g and measures 19.05 mm.
- Is the 1955 No Shoulder Fold 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 1955 penny in context
The 1955 no shoulder fold is the best known variety of the Gillick portrait and one of the classic modern Canadian cents. By 1955 the revised shoulder fold portrait had long replaced the original 1953 design, but at least one old obverse die without the fold was paired with a 1955 reverse. Coins from that pairing show the queen's gown smooth across the shoulder, just like the first coins of 1953.
There is no separate mintage. The published figure of 56,403,193 covers all 1955 cents and the no fold coins are a small share of it. Collectors discovered the variety by checking coins from circulation and for decades it was a favorite find for people sorting through pocket change and bank rolls. It remains the coin that sends people back to their jars of old cents. Because it was struck in the normal way alongside regular coins, examples turn up in every grade, though most are worn. Finding one is still possible and that possibility is a big part of its appeal to anyone who sorts old Canadian change.
How to recognize it
Mary Gillick's laureate portrait faces right with ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA around it. The reverse carries Kruger Gray's maple twig with CANADA, 1 CENT and 1955. A 1955 no shoulder fold cent measures 19.05 mm and weighs 3.24 g. The key is the queen's shoulder: on this variety the gown has no fold line where it meets the shoulder near the lower edge of the bust. Compare it with a normal 1955 under the same light and at the same angle. A coin where the shoulder is smooth but the rest of the portrait is sharp is the most convincing kind, since wear can't explain the missing line.
1955 No Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny by the numbers
The published 56,403,193 for 1955 covers both the No Shoulder Fold and Shoulder Fold varieties together, so neither can be ranked on its own. As a date, 1955 sits 73rd lowest among Canadian penny dates by output.
Compared with the dates around it, the 1955 output was 2.5 times the 1954 figure and 1.4 times fewer than 1956. Other 1955 cents: 1955 Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny.
Over the 1950s the Mint produced 677.2 million cents across 10 dates and varieties; the 1955 No Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny accounts for 8.3% of that.
What to check on your 1955 No Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny
- Confirm the variety: no shoulder fold. 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.
The 1955 no shoulder fold carries a collector premium in every grade, from worn to uncirculated. Red uncirculated coins are especially scarce. Because the variety depends on the absence of a detail, weakly struck or worn shoulder fold coins are often mistaken for it. Fakes made by smoothing the shoulder of a normal coin are also known, so look for any signs of tooling. A genuine coin shows a natural, even surface across the gown. For any coin you think qualifies, an opinion from a grading service is the safest step.
Elizabeth II laureate portrait, 1953 to 1964
Elizabeth II's first Canadian portrait, by Mary Gillick, shows a young queen with a laurel wreath in her hair and no crown, with the legend ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA. Kruger Gray's maple twig reverse carried on unchanged. The coin itself stayed at 19.05 mm and 3.24 g in the wartime alloy of 98% copper, 0.5% tin and 1.5% zinc. The portrait was first cut in high relief, which turned out to cause problems at the mint.
The first 1953 dies did not strike cleanly, with weak detail in the legend and around the rim. The mint revised the master and the easiest way to tell the versions apart is the gown: the revised portrait shows a clear fold line running across the shoulder, while the original has none. Both appear on 1953 cents under one published mintage. In 1955 an old die without the fold was used again, producing the scarce 1955 no shoulder fold cent. Mintages climbed steadily through the decade, passing 100 million in 1957 and reaching about 485 million in 1964.
The shoulder is the thing to check on any 1953 or 1955 cent. Use a magnifier and good light and look at the line of the gown just above the bust's lower edge. Heavy wear can erase a weak fold, so judge varieties on reasonably sharp coins. Apart from those, the dates here are common, though 1954 had a much smaller run of about 22 million. Mint state red coins from this era are easy to find, so worn examples of regular dates are face value coins.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 cent |
| Issuer | Royal Canadian Mint |
| Year | 1955 |
| Circulation mintage | 56,403,193 (with the Shoulder Fold variety) |
| Composition | Bronze (98% copper, 0.5% tin, 1.5% zinc) |
| Weight | 3.24 g |
| Diameter | 19.05 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Plain |
Other 1955 Canadian pennies
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 1955 Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny | 56,403,193 | Face value |
Frequently asked questions
How do you identify a 1955 no shoulder fold cent?
Check the queen's gown near the bottom of the bust. On the variety there is no raised fold line across the shoulder. Compare it with a normal 1955 under side lighting, since wear or a weak strike can hide the fold.
Why does the 1955 no shoulder fold exist?
An old obverse die of the original 1953 type, without the fold, was used again in 1955. Coins from that die are a small part of the 56,403,193 cents struck that year.
Mintage figures: Penny (Canadian coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Canadian Mint figures. How we build these pages.