Rare Canadian Quarters: The Key Dates to Look For

The Victorian keys

Victoria's quarters were struck in small batches and then spent hard for decades. That combination makes several of them the toughest coins in the whole series.

• 1889: 66,324, the lowest mintage of any regular Canadian quarter
• 1887: 100,000
• 1893: 100,000
• 1891: 120,000
• 1885: 192,000
• 1890 H: 200,000

The 25 lowest mintage Canadian quarters

What the Victorian dates look like in hand

Most survivors are heavily worn, with the legend barely readable and the Queen's hair worn smooth. Don't let that put you off. Even a worn 1889 carries a collector premium. A sharp one is a significant rarity. Read the date with a loupe, since a 3 and an 8 are easy to confuse on a tired coin. Check for an H on the reverse too, which marks coins struck at Heaton in Birmingham.

1915 and 1921

The 1915 is the key George V quarter at 242,382, about a fifth of the 1914 total and far below the years that followed. The 1921 is a semi-key. Its 597,337 isn't tiny, but collectors find it harder to locate than the figure suggests, which is usually put down to coins being melted. Two other George V dates deserve a look as well: 1927 at 468,096 and 1934 at 384,350.

The 1936 dot

Early in 1937 the Mint needed quarters but didn't yet have dies for George VI. It kept striking with the 1936 George V dies and added a small raised dot below the date to mark the difference. Only 153,322 were made, against 972,094 regular 1936 quarters.

Look directly below the date on the reverse. A genuine dot is small, round and part of the strike, not a blob sitting on top. Added dots are a known trick, so a promising 1936 dot is worth sending to a grading service.

The 1947 maple leaf and the 1973 large bust

India's independence meant the King's title had to drop ET IND IMP (emperor of India), yet the new dies weren't ready. So in 1948 the Mint struck coins with 1947 dies and a tiny maple leaf after the date. It's a famous variety, but on the quarter it isn't the scarce one: 4,393,938 maple leaf coins were made against 1,524,554 plain 1947s. Collectors want it for its story and to finish the set.

The 1973 quarter shows a Mountie on horseback for the RCMP centennial. Almost all use a small portrait of the Queen; a tiny number were struck with the larger bust from earlier quarters. The published total of 134,958,587 covers both, so there's no separate figure, but the large bust is a genuine rarity. Put your coin next to an ordinary 1973 and compare the size of the head.

The 1991 and other modern finds

The 1991 had only 459,000 made, the lowest of any nickel quarter by a wide margin. A circulated one brings a small premium and an uncirculated one does better. Two other modern dates are worth pulling: the 1970 at 10,302,010 and the 2001 without a P, a nickel coin with 8,415,000 made. Check any find for an altered date before you celebrate.

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