Canadian 5-cent coin · Elizabeth II

1989 Canadian 5 cents (nickel)

A 1989 Canadian 5-cent coin contains no silver.

No silver

Reported mintage, 1989

141,435,538

The Mint records this coin as 75% copper, 25% nickel. There is no melt trade in it and no dealer prices it by weight.

What the Mint says it is made of

PeriodCompositionWeightSilverDiameterMagnet
1982 - 199975% copper, 25% nickel4.6 gnone21.2 mmnot stated

How many were struck

141,435,538

Reported mintage, 1989

That is the 105th lowest of the 117 years in which the Mint reports striking a 5-cent coin, in a range running from 200,050 to 278,530,000. 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

Elizabeth II

This updated effigy of Queen Elizabeth II appeared with the inscription ELIZABETH II D G REGINA, a shortened form of the original.

Every portrait by year

The design on the reverse

1937 - 1942, 1946 - 1950, 1952 - 1966, 1968 - present

The beaver

The beaver design was created in 1937 by G.E. Kruger-Gray as part of a coin modernization effort.

The rest of your 1989 change

Nobody inherits one denomination. If there is a 1989 5-cent coin in the tin, these are the other coins carrying that date and whether they hold any silver.

DenominationComposition in 1989SilverMintage
1 cent penny98% copper, 1.75% tin, 0.25% zincnone1,066,628,200
10 cents dime99.9% nickelnone198,693,414
25 cents quarter99.9% nickelnone119,084,307
50 cents half dollar99% nickel (minimum)none266,419
1 dollar91.5% nickel, 8.5% bronze platingnone184,773,902

Everything Canada struck in 1989

Composition, weight, diameter and mintage are reproduced from the Royal Canadian Mint’s published record for the 5-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.