Polar Bear Toonie (1996 to today)
The Polar Bear Toonie is the everyday toonie reverse from 1996 to today. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1996 to today
- Circulation mintage
- Not published
- Value band
- Face value
- Designer
- Brent Townsend
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 Polar Bear Toonie worth?
The everyday Polar Bear Toonie is worth face value in circulated condition. Only uncirculated coins from sets or with a genuine mint error bring a premium.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition
- Colored versions from collector packs
- Specimen or proof finish from a Mint set
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the Polar Bear Toonie rare?
- No. It was made in large numbers, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many Polar Bear Toonie coins were made?
- The Royal Canadian Mint has not published a circulation figure in our source.
- Who designed the Polar Bear Toonie?
- The design is credited to Brent Townsend.
- What is the Polar Bear Toonie made of?
- Bimetallic: nickel outer ring and aluminum bronze core (1996 to 2011); multi-ply plated steel (from 2012). It weighs 7.3 g (to 2011), 6.92 g (from 2012) and measures 28 mm.
- Is the Polar Bear Toonie still legal tender?
- Yes. Every toonie, commemoratives included, is legal tender in Canada.
The story of the Polar Bear Toonie
The toonie entered circulation on February 19, 1996, replacing the two-dollar bill. The reasoning was the same as for the loonie nine years earlier: a coin costs more to make than a note but lasts far longer, so the switch saves money over time. Canadians quickly named the new coin the toonie, a play on two and loonie. The name stuck. The reverse has carried Brent Townsend's polar bear from the start. Townsend, a wildlife artist, shows the bear standing on an ice floe and it has become one of the most familiar images in Canadian change.
The toonie was Canada's first bimetallic circulation coin. The original version has a nickel outer ring and an aluminum bronze core, weighs 7.3 grams and measures 28 millimeters across. The two parts are locked together during striking. Soon after launch, stories spread that the core could fall out of the ring and some people tried freezing or hitting coins to prove it. The worries faded as the coin settled into everyday use and the toonie has been a normal part of Canadian change for three decades. A toonie with a separated core is a damaged coin, not an error variety.
In 2012 the Royal Canadian Mint switched to multi-ply plated steel for the toonie's outer ring, which made the coin slightly lighter and more strongly magnetic. The redesigned coin also gained security features, including small maple leaf marks. The portrait side changed during the run as well: Queen Elizabeth II by Dora de Pédery-Hunt until 2003, then Susanna Blunt's portrait and King Charles III by Steven Rosati from 2023. The Mint's logo mint mark first appears in 2006, the year the toonie marked its tenth anniversary.
How to recognize it
Brent Townsend's reverse shows an adult polar bear standing on a floe of ice, set in the golden core of the coin. The silver-colored outer ring carries CANADA and the denomination, while the date sits on the obverse with the monarch's portrait. To place your coin within the run, check three things: the portrait (which monarch and which version), the date and the weight. Do not rely on a magnet here: the original pure nickel ring is magnetic too, so a 2011 or earlier coin can stick as well as a plated steel one. If the core shows anything other than the single bear on the ice, you are holding one of the commemorative designs instead.
Polar Bear Toonie by the numbers
No Polar Bear Toonie had been issued for circulation in the published figures; the design was struck for collector sets. Expect that to change as banks need new coins.
What to check on your Polar Bear Toonie
- Confirm the design: the polar bear on an ice floe, in a silver-colored ring with a gold-colored center.
- Check whether it has added color. Colored toonies came from collector products or special circulation releases; keep them out of rough handling.
- Look at the join between ring and core. It should be tight and even; a loose or damaged core is damage, not a rarity.
- Specimen and proof toonies from Mint sets have satin or mirror finishes that circulation coins never have.
Ordinary polar bear toonies from change are face value coins. The interest lies in collector issues. From 2010 to 2015 specimen sets carried a special toonie showing young animals: Christie Paquet's young lynx in 2010 and elk calf in 2011, Emily Damstra's wolf cubs in 2012, Glen Loates's black bear cubs in 2013, Pierre Leduc's baby rabbits in 2014 and Clinton Jammer's baby raccoons in 2015. Most of those had mintages of 15,000, with 17,500 for 2013 and 2014. First strikes were sold too: just 2,375 of the 2005 polar bear, plus 5,000 each of the 2006 tenth anniversary coin and the 2006 coin with the new mint mark. These carry a collector premium, best kept in original packaging.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 2 dollars |
| Issuer | Royal Canadian Mint |
| Year | 1996 to today |
| Circulation mintage | Not published |
| Composition | Bimetallic: nickel outer ring and aluminum bronze core (1996 to 2011); multi-ply plated steel (from 2012) |
| Weight | 7.3 g (to 2011), 6.92 g (from 2012) |
| Diameter | 28 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Intermittent milling |
| Designer | Brent Townsend |
Frequently asked questions
When did the toonie replace the two-dollar bill?
The toonie was introduced on February 19, 1996, replacing the two-dollar bill. Brent Townsend's polar bear has been the regular reverse ever since, while commemorative designs have appeared in circulation from time to time since 1999.
Can the center fall out of a toonie?
Stories about cores popping out circulated soon after the toonie's 1996 launch. In normal use the ring and core stay firmly locked together for decades. A coin with a separated core has been damaged and is not a collectible error.
What is the rarest regular toonie?
The scarcest pieces never reached change. The 2005 polar bear first strike had only 2,375 made and the baby animal toonies from 2010 to 2015 specimen sets were limited to between 15,000 and 17,500 each. Circulation polar bear toonies, old or new, are face value.
Mintage figures: Toonie (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Canadian Mint figures. How we build these pages.