2003 Uncrowned Canadian Penny
The 2003 Uncrowned Canadian Penny is a one-cent coin struck for circulation with 56.9 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2003
- Circulation mintage
- 56,887,144
- Value band
- Face value
- Composition
- Copper-plated zinc (98.4% zinc, 1.6% copper plating)
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 2003 Uncrowned Canadian Penny worth?
With 56.9 million made, the 2003 Uncrowned Canadian Penny is common. A circulated one is worth face value. The cent is still legal tender even though the Mint stopped issuing it in 2013. Only coins with full original red color, a recognized variety or a genuine error interest collectors.
What would make yours worth more:
- Full original red color
- A recognized variety or a genuine mint error
- Coins from a specimen or proof set
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 2003 Uncrowned Canadian Penny rare?
- No. 56.9 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2003 Uncrowned Canadian pennies were made?
- 56,887,144 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2003 Uncrowned Canadian Penny made of?
- Copper-plated zinc (98.4% zinc, 1.6% copper plating). It weighs 2.25 g and measures 19.05 mm.
- Is the 2003 Uncrowned 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 2003 penny in context
In 2003, fifty years after the coronation, Canada introduced a new portrait of the queen by Susanna Blunt. It shows her without a crown, a first for the queen's Canadian coin portraits since the laureate design of the 1950s. Cents with the new portrait were struck alongside the crowned ones and the version without a P mark, made of copper-plated zinc, had the smallest run of any 2003 cent: 56,887,144 coins.
That makes 2003 one of the most complicated years for the cent. There are four types: the crowned portrait without a P at about 92 million, the crowned portrait with a P at about 236 million, this uncrowned zinc coin and the uncrowned P coin at about 591 million. The uncrowned zinc cent is the scarcest of the four by a clear margin. It is still a large number of coins, but it stands out among the huge runs of the period. Blunt's portrait stayed on the cent until production ended in 2012, so this coin is also the first of the final portrait, made in the old zinc composition before steel took over.
How to recognize it
Susanna Blunt's portrait shows the queen facing right without a crown, her hair visible, with ELIZABETH II D·G·REGINA around it. There is no P below the portrait. The reverse is Kruger Gray's maple twig with CANADA, 1 CENT and 2003. The coin is round, weighs 2.25 g and is made of copper-plated zinc, so it will not stick to a magnet. To confirm the type, check the portrait first: a bare head means uncrowned. Then look for the P and try a magnet. No P and no magnetic pull means you have this version. A crown with no P is the other zinc type of the year.
2003 Uncrowned Canadian Penny by the numbers
In mintage terms the 2003 Uncrowned Canadian Penny ranks 76th lowest of 151 Canadian cent dates and varieties from 1858 to 2012. The next scarcer is the 1946 Canadian Penny (56.7 million); the next more common is the 1958 Canadian Penny (59.4 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1981 Round Canadian Penny with 1.21 billion, about 21 times as many. The scarcest is the 1858 Canadian Penny with 421,000, 135 times fewer than this one.
Compared with the dates around it, the 2003 output was 2 times fewer than 2002 and 11 times fewer than 2004. Other 2003 cents: 2003 Canadian Penny (92.2 million), 2003 P Canadian Penny (235.9 million) and 2003 P Uncrowned Canadian Penny (591.3 million).
Over the 2000s the Mint produced 8.29 billion cents across 19 dates and varieties; the 2003 Uncrowned Canadian Penny accounts for 0.7% of that.
What to check on your 2003 Uncrowned Canadian Penny
- Try a magnet: a genuine 2003 Uncrowned Canadian Penny is plated zinc and does not stick.
- Confirm the variety: uncrowned portrait. 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; bright original 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.
Worn coins are face value, but the uncrowned zinc cent is the one 2003 type worth sorting for. Uncirculated red coins draw a small premium and collectors who build sets of all four 2003 types need it. Because the difference rests on a missing P and a magnet test, a coin with a worn or damaged plating can be confusing, so check both. Zinc cents can corrode where the plating is broken, which shows as gray spots or bubbles. A coin with smooth, intact plating is the best choice and one with full red color is better still.
Crowned and uncrowned portraits, 1990 to 2003
Dora de Pédery-Hunt's crowned portrait of the queen arrived in 1990, making her the first Canadian artist to design the royal effigy for Canada's coins. In 1992 cents carried the double date 1867-1992 for the 125th anniversary of Confederation. The 12-sided shape ended after 1996. From 1997 the cent was round again and made of zinc with a thin copper plating, 2.25 g, as the price of copper made a solid bronze coin too costly. Cents dated 2002 carry 1952-2002 for the Golden Jubilee of the queen's accession.
Copper-plated steel arrived on circulation cents dated 2002. These are marked with a small P for plated and weigh 2.35 g and for several years zinc and steel coins were made side by side. In 2003, fifty years after the coronation, Susanna Blunt's portrait replaced de Pédery-Hunt's. It shows the queen without a crown and it stayed on the cent until production ended. That gives 2003 four distinct types: crowned without a P, crowned with a P, uncrowned without a P and uncrowned with a P.
The useful checks here are the portrait, the shape and a magnet. A 12-sided coin is from 1996 or earlier. A P under the portrait means plated steel and a fridge magnet will pick those up while zinc cents ignore it. On 2003 coins, look at the queen's head first: a crown or bare hair tells you which portrait you have. Mintages are huge, apart from a few short runs in 2003, so almost every coin here is face value unless it is a variety in sharp condition.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 cent |
| Issuer | Royal Canadian Mint |
| Year | 2003 |
| Circulation mintage | 56,887,144 |
| Composition | Copper-plated zinc (98.4% zinc, 1.6% copper plating) |
| Weight | 2.25 g |
| Diameter | 19.05 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Plain |
Other 2003 Canadian pennies
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 Canadian Penny | 92,219,775 | Face value |
| 2003 P Canadian Penny | 235,936,799 | Face value |
| 2003 P Uncrowned Canadian Penny | 591,257,000 | Face value |
Frequently asked questions
Which 2003 Canadian cent is the rarest?
Of the four 2003 types, the uncrowned portrait without a P has the smallest mintage at 56,887,144. The crowned no P version follows at about 92 million, with the two P types much higher.
Who designed the uncrowned portrait on the 2003 cent?
Susanna Blunt designed the uncrowned portrait of the queen introduced in 2003. It stayed on Canadian cents until production ended in 2012 and shows the queen without a crown, her hair simply dressed.
Mintage figures: Penny (Canadian coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Canadian Mint figures. How we build these pages.