One mark, introduced in 2006
Mint marks on Canadian coins
If you have come here from American coinage expecting a D, an S and a P, the answer is that Canadian circulation coins do not work that way. There is one mark, it appears on the obverse, and it dates from 2006.
The Mint Mark
The Royal Canadian Mint’s own account of it, written on its page for the 2-dollar coin:
In celebration of the 10th anniversary of its introduction, the 2-dollar circulation coin was produced in two versions: the first honouring the traditional Polar Bear design of artist Tony Bianco and the second featuring his updated pose of the bear looking up at the dramatic lines of an Aurora Borealis. It is important to note the position of 1996-2006 double date on each coin: the traditional bear design shows the date beneath the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II, while the updated bear shows the date above the effigy. In 2006, we also introduced the Mint Mark on the obverse side of all Canadian circulation coinage. The Mint Mark encompasses the three elements of the Mint's corporate name: M for Mint; a Maple leaf for Canadian; and a crown for Royal and Crown Corporation. It features the Mint design within a circle and consists of a symbol depicting a stylized maple leaf emerging from the letter M. With the exception of the 2008 2-dollar circulation coin celebrating the 400th Anniversary of the founding of Quebec City, the Mint Mark always appears beneath the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse of 2-dollar circulation coins produced since 2006. Since the introduction of the Mint Mark, the maple leaf no longer appears above the effigy of Her Majesty.
Two things in that paragraph are worth pulling out. The mark went onto all Canadian circulation coinage in 2006, not one denomination. And it replaced something: before 2006 a maple leaf sat above the effigy, and once the Mint Mark arrived that leaf was dropped.
So the presence or absence of the Mint Mark dates a coin either side of 2006 without reading the date at all, which is occasionally useful on a worn coin.
The exception the Mint names
One commemorative coin moved it. Again in the Mint’s words, about the 2008 2-dollar coin marking the four hundredth anniversary of Quebec City:
Quebec artist Geneviève Bertrand won a design competition to create a new reverse of the 2-dollar circulation coin commemorating the 400th anniversary of Quebec City. The date 1608 appeared on the left side of the outer ring, while 2008 appeared on the right of the ring on this commemorative coin's reverse side. Only six million of these special coins circulated, in addition to more than 17 million 2008 Toonies produced with the traditional Polar Bear design. As the date was moved to the reverse side of this commemorative coin, the Mint Mark was moved to the core of the coin on the obverse, to the immediate left of Her Majesty's effigy.
The date had moved to the reverse on that coin, so the mark moved to fill the space. It is the only exception the Mint records.
Marks that are not mint marks
Two of the current coins carry laser-struck security marks that get mistaken for mint marks. These are the Mint’s descriptions, from its technical specification for each coin.
Canadian 1-dollar coin · current issue
- A single laser mark of a maple leaf positioned within a circle on the coin's reverse
Canadian 2-dollar coin · current issue
- Two laser marks of maple leaves, each within a circle, at the bottom of the coin's reverse
- A virtual image of two maple leaves will appear at the top of the coin - a different image is produced as the coin is turned from side to side.
- Edge-lettering of the words "CANADA" and "2 DOLLARS" are engraved along the coin's outer edge.
These are anti-counterfeiting features rather than marks of origin. A coin without them is not a coin from a different mint; it is a coin from before they were introduced.
What is not on this page, and why
There is a well-known story about early Canadian coins carrying an H for the Heaton mint in Birmingham, which struck Canadian coinage when the Royal Mint in London was busy. You will find tables of those marks in catalogues and on forums.
You will not find one here, because the Royal Canadian Mint publishes no such table. Its record of Canadian circulation coinage begins in 1908, the year the Ottawa mint opened, and everything struck before that was made in England and is outside what the Mint documents. This site has one source, and where that source is silent, so is this site.
That is a real limitation rather than a stylistic one, and the page on the years before 1908 sets out exactly what it costs. If you have a citable public record of pre-1908 Canadian mint marks - an official report rather than a catalogue - we would like to see it. How to send one.
The practical version: on a Canadian circulation coin, a mark near the portrait means 2006 or later, and a maple leaf above the portrait means before 2006. Nothing on a Canadian circulation coin tells you which building it was struck in.