Canadian 1-cent coin · George V

1918 Canadian 1 cent (penny)

A 1918 Canadian 1-cent coin contains no silver.

No silver

Reported mintage, 1918

12,970,798

The Mint records this coin as 95.5% copper, 3% tin, 1.5% zinc. There is no melt trade in it and no dealer prices it by weight.

What the Mint says it is made of

PeriodCompositionWeightSilverDiameterMagnet
1908 - 192095.5% copper, 3% tin, 1.5% zinc5.67 gnone25.4 mmnot attracted

How many were struck

12,970,798

Reported mintage, 1918

That is the 28th lowest of the 105 years in which the Mint reports striking a 1-cent coin, in a range running from 1,000,622 to 1,261,883,000. Mintage is a count of coins made, not of coins that survive: the Mint has no way of knowing how many of these were later returned and melted, and for a silver denomination in the 1960s that number is large.

Portrait on the obverse

George V

George V was the great-grandfather of His Majesty King Charles III and appeared with the Latin inscription GEORGIVS V DEI GRA:REX ET IND:IMP, which means “George V, by the grace of God, the King and Emperor of India.” For part of 1911, coins did not include the DEI GRA part of the inscription and became known as the “Godless” coins.

Every portrait by year

The design on the reverse

1858 - 1920

The maple leaf wreath

This 1-cent coin features the design of L.C. Wyon of the Royal Mint. It portrays maple leaves wrapped around a vine. W.H.J. Blackmore designed this reverse of the 1-cent coin. The representation of maple leaves wrapped around a vine was kept.

The rest of your 1918 change

Nobody inherits one denomination. If there is a 1918 1-cent coin in the tin, these are the other coins carrying that date and whether they hold any silver.

DenominationComposition in 1918SilverMintage
5 cents nickel92.5% silver, 7.5% copper0.0347 ozt6,052,289
10 cents dime92.5% silver, 7.5% copper0.0693 ozt5,133,602
25 cents quarter92.5% silver, 7.5% copper0.1734 ozt4,175,649
50 cents half dollar92.5% silver, 7.5% copper0.3456 ozt854,989

Everything Canada struck in 1918

Composition, weight, diameter and mintage are reproduced from the Royal Canadian Mint’s published record for the 1-cent coin, retrieved 2026-09-04. Silver content is calculated from that published weight and fineness rather than transcribed. Portrait periods come from the Mint’s Faces of the Monarch. No value on this page is a collector price. Methodology.