Canadian 1-cent coin · George V

1933 Canadian 1 cent (penny)

A 1933 Canadian 1-cent coin contains no silver.

No silver

Reported mintage, 1933

12,079,310

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
1920 - 194195.5% copper, 3% tin, 1.5% zinc3.24 gnone19.05 mmnot attracted

How many were struck

12,079,310

Reported mintage, 1933

That is the 26th 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

1920 - 1936

The two maple leaves

This design, created by Fred Lewis, coincided with a reduction in the 1-cent coin's diameter.

The rest of your 1933 change

Nobody inherits one denomination. If there is a 1933 1-cent coin in the tin, these are the other coins carrying that date and whether they hold any silver.

DenominationComposition in 1933SilverMintage
5 cents nickel99% nickelnone2,597,867
10 cents dime80% silver, 20% copper0.0599 ozt672,368
25 cents quarter80% silver, 20% copper0.1500 ozt421,282
50 cents half dollar80% silver, 20% copper0.2999 ozt0

Everything Canada struck in 1933

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.