The single most confusing pair of dates in Canadian coinage
1967 and 1968: the same date, two different metals
Canada took the silver out of its coins in the middle of a calendar year, twice. That is why a 1968 quarter can be half silver or no silver at all, why the two look identical, and why almost every question this site gets asked lands on these two dates.
What happened
A silver coin only works as money while the silver in it is worth less than the number stamped on it. Through the 1960s the silver price climbed until that stopped being true, and every country still using silver coinage faced the same arithmetic: if a quarter is worth thirty cents as metal, the quarters stop circulating and start disappearing into melting pots.
Canada’s response came in two steps rather than one. The fineness was cut first, from 80 per cent silver to 50 per cent. Then silver was removed entirely and replaced with pure nickel. Because both changes happened partway through a calendar year, coins struck before and after each change carry the same date.
This is not a variety or an error. It is two different coins, made to two different published standards, wearing the same year.
Why it still matters
Because the two are not worth remotely the same, and because you cannot tell them apart by looking. A 50 per cent silver 25-cent piece and a pure nickel one are the same diameter, the same published weight and carry the same caribou. Tone is not evidence either way.
A jar of change containing a dozen 1968 quarters therefore contains an unknown amount of silver until someone tests them, and the test takes about four seconds per coin.
What the Mint publishes, denomination by denomination
These are the Royal Canadian Mint’s own specification periods covering 1966 to 1969, reproduced without adjustment. Two rows against one year means two coins with that date.
Canadian 10-cent coin · the dime
Last silver year: 1967
| Date on the coin | Mint’s period | Composition | Weight | Silver | Value today | Magnet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | 1920 - 1967 | 80% silver, 20% copper | 2.33 g | 0.0599 ozt | $5.40 | not attracted |
| 1967 | 1920 - 1967 | 80% silver, 20% copper | 2.33 g | 0.0599 ozt | $5.40 | not attracted |
| 1968 | 1968 - 1977 | 99.9% nickel | 2.07 g | none | - | attracted |
| 1969 | 1968 - 1977 | 99.9% nickel | 2.07 g | none | - | attracted |
Canadian 25-cent coin · the quarter
Last silver year: 1968
| Date on the coin | Mint’s period | Composition | Weight | Silver | Value today | Magnet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | 1953 - 1967 | 80% silver, 20% copper | 5.83 g | 0.1500 ozt | $13.50 | not attracted |
| 1967 | 1953 - 1967 | 80% silver, 20% copper | 5.83 g | 0.1500 ozt | $13.50 | not attracted |
| or | 1967 - 1968 | 50% silver, 50% copper | 5.05 g | 0.0812 ozt | $7.31 | not attracted |
| 1968 | 1967 - 1968 | 50% silver, 50% copper | 5.05 g | 0.0812 ozt | $7.31 | not attracted |
| or | 1968 - 1977 | 99.9% nickel | 5.05 g | none | - | attracted |
| 1969 | 1968 - 1977 | 99.9% nickel | 5.05 g | none | - | attracted |
Canadian 50-cent coin · the half dollar
Last silver year: 1967
| Date on the coin | Mint’s period | Composition | Weight | Silver | Value today | Magnet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | 1920 - 1967 | 80% silver, 20% copper | 11.66 g | 0.2999 ozt | $27.00 | not attracted |
| 1967 | 1920 - 1967 | 80% silver, 20% copper | 11.66 g | 0.2999 ozt | $27.00 | not attracted |
| 1968 | 1968 - 1979 | 99% nickel (minimum) | 8.1 g | none | - | attracted |
| 1969 | 1968 - 1979 | 99% nickel (minimum) | 8.1 g | none | - | attracted |
Canadian 1-dollar coin
Last silver year: 1967
| Date on the coin | Mint’s period | Composition | Weight | Silver | Value today | Magnet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | 1935 - 1967 | 80% silver, 20% copper | 23.3 g | 0.5993 ozt | $53.96 | not attracted |
| 1967 | 1935 - 1967 | 80% silver, 20% copper | 23.3 g | 0.5993 ozt | $53.96 | not attracted |
| 1968 | 1968 - 1982 | 99.9% nickel | 15.62 g | none | - | attracted |
| 1969 | 1968 - 1982 | 99.9% nickel | 15.62 g | none | - | attracted |
A gap in the Mint’s own record
Read the two tables above against each other and something is missing. The Mint’s specification for the 25-cent coin lists a period labelled 1967 to 1968 at 50 per cent silver, sitting between the 80 per cent period that ends in 1967 and the pure nickel period that starts in 1968. Its specification for the 10-cent coin has no such period. It goes straight from 80 per cent silver ending in 1967 to 99.9 per cent nickel beginning in 1968.
We do not know why, and this site does not publish a 50 per cent silver figure for the 10-cent coin, because the Mint does not publish one. Filling that gap from a catalogue or from anywhere else would put a number on hundreds of pages that our stated source does not support, and the whole value of a reference site is that its figures can be traced back to something.
What can be said from the published record is useful anyway. An 80 per cent silver 10-cent coin weighs 2.33 grams and its pure nickel replacement weighs 2.07 grams. A scale reading to a hundredth of a gram separates those two easily, and a magnet separates them instantly. If a 1968 dime is not attracted to a magnet, it is not the nickel coin, whatever its exact fineness turns out to be.
If you have a citable public record that fills this gap, we would like to see it. How to send a correction.
The four-second test
Hold a magnet against the coin. Pure nickel is strongly ferromagnetic and will jump to it. Silver is not ferromagnetic at all, and neither is the copper it is alloyed with, so a silver coin does nothing.
That is the whole test for 1967 and 1968, and it is the reason those two years are far less frightening than they look. A fridge magnet is enough. A strong magnet is better because the response is unmistakable.
Where the magnet does not help is the 50 per cent silver 25-cent coin against the 80 per cent one, because neither responds. There a scale does the work: the Mint gives 5.83 grams for the 80 per cent coin and 5.05 grams for the 50 per cent one, which is a difference no worn coin closes.
| Pair | Magnet | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Silver against nickel | Settles it | Settles it |
| .800 against .500 quarter | No help | 5.83 g against 5.05 g |
| .500 quarter against nickel | Settles it | No help, both 5.05 g |
Weights are the Mint’s published standard weights. A circulated coin is slightly lighter than its standard weight, which does not affect any of the comparisons above.
Do not test a coin with acid, and do not rub it to see the metal underneath. Both damage the surface permanently, and on a coin whose value turns on condition that damage costs more than the answer is worth. A magnet and a scale tell you what you need without touching the coin.
The other end of the story: the 5-cent coin
Canada’s five-cent piece went through all of this nearly fifty years earlier. The Mint’s record shows it in sterling silver to 1919, at 80 per cent silver for 1920 and 1921, and in 99 per cent nickel from 1922. That is why the small silver five-cent coins turn up so rarely: the denomination stopped being silver while the others still had four and a half decades to run.
The consequence for anyone sorting a tin is that the sorting rule for the five-cent coin is a completely different date from the rule for everything else. The 5-cent denomination page has every composition it has ever had, and there are ten of them.
Common questions
- What happened to Canadian silver coins in 1967 and 1968?
- The silver price rose above the point where the metal in the coin was worth more than the coin, so the government cut the silver content and then removed it. The Mint's published specification for the 25-cent coin shows 80% silver to 1967, a 50% silver period covering 1967 and 1968, and pure nickel from 1968. Coins from each of those standards carry the same dates.
- How can I tell a silver 1968 quarter from a nickel one?
- A magnet. Pure nickel is strongly ferromagnetic and a silver-copper alloy is not attracted at all. Hold a magnet to the coin: if it jumps, it is the nickel coin. Both weigh 5.05 grams according to the Mint, so a scale will not separate them.
- Does the Mint publish a 50% silver period for the 10-cent coin?
- No, and that is worth being clear about. The Mint's specification table for the 25-cent coin lists a 1967 to 1968 period at 50% silver. Its table for the 10-cent coin goes straight from 80% silver ending in 1967 to 99.9% nickel starting in 1968, with no 50% period. This site reports what the Mint publishes for each coin and does not fill the gap from another source.
- Which was the last Canadian silver circulation coin?
- By the Mint's published record, 1968 for the 10 and 25 cent coins and 1967 for the 50 cent coin and the dollar. Everything struck for circulation after that is nickel, cupronickel, bronze or plated steel.