King Charles officially replaces Queen Elizabeth on Canadian coins — here's a first look
Canadians will soon find coins with King Charles III’s face in their change.
On Tuesday, the Royal Canadian Mint revealed the design of King Charles that will replace Queen Elizabeth’s effigy on the head side of all Canadian coins.
His face was also pressed onto a loonie, the very first Canadian circulation coin bearing King Charles’ face, today at an announcement ceremony in Winnipeg.
“Since opening its doors in 1908, the Mint has featured the portrait of the reigning monarch on Canadian coins. When the Government of Canada announced that the effigy of His Majesty King Charles III would appear on Canadian coins, we were proud to once more uphold a longstanding Canadian tradition,” said Marie Lemay, president and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint, in a statement.
“Many of our employees worked as one to meet the historic challenge, and we are pleased to be ready for production on the day of His Majesty’s birthday.”
The Royal Canadian Mint
The design
The crown corporation calls it a “new era in the history of Canadian coins.”
According to the Mint, the 2023-dated $1 circulation coin becomes the first displaying the portrait of a new monarch in 70 years.
This comes after the Canadian government announced in May that future coins in Canada would feature the effigy of King Charles III.
The Royal Canadian Mint says it immediately began the process of creating the new effigy, inviting coin designers and Mint engravers to submit their concept for the monarch’s portrait.
The Royal Canadian Mint
Montreal-based artist Steven Rosati came through with the winning design for the King Charles portrait.
“I am honoured and humbled to have had my design of His Majesty King Charles III’s effigy chosen for such a prestigious moment in the history of Canadian coins and very excited and proud to eventually see it in production,” said Rosati in a statement.
“I am also very grateful to be among the many talented artists who have done designs for the Royal Canadian Mint.”
He is only the third Canadian artist to have designed a royal effigy for Canadian coins since 1990.
Dora de Pédery-Hunt (1990-2002) and Susanna Blunt (2003-2023) are the two other artists who came before him.
How can you collect the King Charles coins?
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The Mint plans to begin circulating a small volume of King Charles coins by December.
There are several ways you can collect the coin.
The first is the organic way — waiting for it to appear in your change as bank branches and businesses replenish their inventories of coins.
According to the Mint, it’ll also be distributing them through public coin exchanges, so keep an eye out for those.
Can’t wait for it to circulate into your hands?
Avid coin collectors can also buy special first trike sets on the Mint’s website.
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