1906 Canadian Quarter
The 1906 Canadian Quarter is a Canadian quarter struck for circulation with 1.24 million made. Value band: metal value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1906
- Circulation mintage
- 1,237,843
- Value band
- Metal value
- Composition
- Sterling silver (92.5% silver, 7.5% copper)
Original illustration of the coin's shape and metal. Tap to flip. Not a picture of the actual design.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 1906 Canadian Quarter worth?
The 1906 Canadian Quarter is a silver coin with 0.1728 troy ounces of pure silver, so its floor is its metal value: 0.1728 times the day's silver spot price. With 1.24 million made, worn examples trade for about their silver; collectors pay more for sharp, original coins and much more for uncirculated ones with full luster.
What would make yours worth more:
- Sharp detail with original luster
- 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 1906 Canadian Quarter rare?
- Not by mintage. 1.24 million were made, but it is silver, so even worn examples are worth their metal value rather than face value.
- How many 1906 Canadian quarters were made?
- 1,237,843 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1906 Canadian Quarter made of?
- Sterling silver (92.5% silver, 7.5% copper). It weighs 5.81 g and measures 23.62 mm.
- Is the 1906 Canadian Quarter still legal tender?
- Yes. Every Canadian quarter is legal tender at 25 cents, but a silver one is worth more for its metal than its face value.
The 1906 quarter in context
The 1906 quarter came from the Royal Mint in London, which struck 1,237,843 of them. That was the largest Edward VII quarter mintage up to that point and a sign of how quickly Canada's need for coins was growing. Two years later a branch of the Royal Mint would open in Ottawa, ending the long reliance on English mints for Canadian silver. In the meantime, London kept up with orders that were rising almost every year.
Collectors also know 1906 for a change at the top of the reverse. The crown above the maple wreath comes in two styles that year: reference catalogs list a common large crown and a very scarce small crown. The published mintage covers both and most 1906 quarters you will see are the large crown type. Telling them apart takes a side by side comparison with a known coin or a good reference photo. Few people check, so the variety is one of the more rewarding things to look for in a pile of Edwardian silver.
How to recognize it
The obverse shows de Saulles's crowned and robed bust of Edward VII with EDWARDVS VII DEI GRATIA REX IMPERATOR. On the reverse, 25 CENTS, CANADA and 1906 sit within a maple wreath with a crown above. There is no mint mark. The coin is sterling silver, about 5.8 g, holding roughly 0.173 troy ounces of pure silver. Study the crown at the top of the reverse, since the two 1906 types differ there; the small crown leaves noticeably more open space above the wreath. Read the date's last digit as well, as a worn 6 can resemble an 8 or a 5.
1906 Canadian Quarter by the numbers
By the numbers, the 1906 Canadian Quarter ranks 40th lowest of 147 Canadian quarter dates and varieties from 1870 to 2024. The next scarcer is the 1914 Canadian Quarter (1.22 million); the next more common is the 1900 Canadian Quarter (1.32 million).
For scale, the most common is the 2000 Canadian Quarter with 434.1 million, about 351 times as many. The scarcest is the 1889 Canadian Quarter with 66,324, 19 times fewer than this one.
Compared with the dates around it, the 1906 output was 1.5 times the 1905 figure and 1.7 times fewer than 1907.
Over the 1900s the Mint produced 10.4 million quarters across 11 dates and varieties; the 1906 Canadian Quarter accounts for 12% of that.
What to check on your 1906 Canadian Quarter
- Check the date first: silver Canadian quarters carry dates from 1870 to 1968; this one has 0.1728 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 quarters.
As one of the larger Edward VII mintages, the regular 1906 is a fairly common date in worn condition and carries a small premium over its silver. The small crown variety is a different matter, a significant rarity that specialists hunt for. Most people holding a 1906 have the large crown, so do not assume otherwise without a careful comparison. Sharp coins with a full beard and clear leaf veins are the ones worth putting aside. Both types are sterling silver, so even a worn 1906 is worth more than face value.
Edward VII quarters, 1902 to 1910
Victoria died in January 1901 and quarters dated 1901 still carry her portrait. Edward VII appears on coins dated 1902, in a crowned and robed bust modeled by George William de Saulles, with the legend EDWARDVS VII DEI GRATIA REX IMPERATOR. The reverse kept the idea of a maple wreath and crown around 25 CENTS and the date. The metal did not change either. An Edwardian quarter is still sterling silver and holds the same 0.173 troy ounces or so of pure silver as a Victorian one.
What did change in these years was where Canada's coins came from. The Heaton mint in Birmingham struck its last quarters, marked with an H, in 1902. The Royal Mint in London supplied the rest until January 1908. That month a branch of the Royal Mint opened in Ottawa and from then on Canadian quarters were made in Canada. Mintages grew with the economy, from 400,000 in 1904 to 3,577,569 in 1910, the biggest run of the reign.
With an Edward VII quarter, the date does most of the work. The lower mintage years are 1904, 1902 and 1908, each under half a million, while 1907 and 1910 are the easiest to find. The 1902-H is the only quarter of the reign with a mint mark, so look below the wreath on any 1902. Wear shows first on the king's beard, the top of the crown and the leaf veins. Edward died in May 1910, but quarters dated 1910 still show him; George V's portrait arrives on coins dated 1911.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 25 cents |
| Issuer | Royal Canadian Mint |
| Year | 1906 |
| Circulation mintage | 1,237,843 |
| Composition | Sterling silver (92.5% silver, 7.5% copper) |
| Weight | 5.81 g |
| Diameter | 23.62 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Reeded |
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1906 small crown Canadian quarter?
It is a scarce 1906 reverse variety in which the crown above the maple wreath is smaller than on the usual coins. Most 1906 quarters have the large crown, so compare yours with a reference before assuming you have the rare one.
How many 1906 Canadian quarters were made?
The published mintage is 1,237,843, struck at the Royal Mint in London. That figure covers the whole year and does not separate the large crown and small crown versions. Most are the large crown.
Mintage figures: Quarter (Canadian coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Canadian Mint figures. How we build these pages.