The Canadian one dollar coin, commonly called the loonie, is a gold-coloured one-dollar coin introduced in 1987. It bears images of a common loon, a bird which is common and well known in Canada, on the reverse, and of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse. It is produced by the Royal Canadian Mint at its facility in Winnipeg. The coin's outline is an 11-sided curve of constant width. Its diameter of 26.5 mm and its 11-sidedness matched that of the already-circulating Susan B. Anthony dollar in the United States, and its thickness of 1.95 mm was a close match to the latter's 2.0 mm. Its gold colour differed from the silver-coloured Anthony dollar; however, the succeeding Sacagawea and Presidential dollars matched the loonie's overall hue. Other coins using a curve of constant width include the 7-sided British twenty pence and fifty pence coins (the latter of which has similar size and value to the loonie, but is silver in colour). The coin has become the symbol of the Canadian dollar: media often discuss the rate at which the loonie is trading against other currencies. The nickname loonie (huard in French) became so widely recognized that in 2006 the Royal Canadian Mint secured the rights to it.[3] When the Canadian two-dollar coin was introduced in 1996, it was in turn nicknamed the "toonie" (a portmanteau of "two" and "loonie"). Canada first minted a silver dollar coin in 1935 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of George V's reign as king.[4] The voyageur dollar, so named because it featured an Indian and a French voyageur paddling a canoe on the reverse, was minted in silver until 1967, after which it was composed primarily of nickel.[5] The coins did not see wide circulation, mainly due to their size and weight; the nickel version weighed 15.6 grams (0.55 oz) and was 32.1 millimetres (1.26 in) in diameter,[6] and was itself smaller than the silver version.[7] By 1982, the Royal Canadian Mint had begun work on a new composition for the dollar coin that it hoped would lead to increased circulation.[6] At the same time, vending machine operators and transit systems were lobbying the Government of Canada to replace the dollar banknotes with wider circulating coins. A Commons committee recommended in 1985 that the dollar bill be eliminated despite a lack of evidence that Canadians would support the move.[8] The government argued that it would save between $175 and $250 million over 20 years by switching from bills that had a lifespan of less than a year to coins that would last two decades The government announced on March 25, 1986, that the new dollar coin would be launched the following year as a replacement for the dollar bill, which would be phased out.[10] It was expected to cost $31.8 million to produce the first 300 million coins, but through seigniorage (the difference between the cost of production and the coin's value), expected to make up to $40 million a year on the coins. From the proceeds, a total of $60 million over five years was dedicated toward funding the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.[11] The failure of the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin in the United States had been considered and it was believed Americans refused to support the coin due to its similarity to their quarter coin and its lack of esthetic appeal.[8] In announcing the new Canadian dollar coin, the government stated it would be the same overall size as the Susan B. Anthony coin – slightly larger than a quarter – to allow for compatibility with American manufactured vending machines, but would be eleven-sided and gold-coloured.[10] It was planned that the coin would continue using the voyageur theme of its predecessor, but the master dies that had been struck in Ottawa were lost in transit en route to the Mint's facility at Winnipeg.[12] A Commons committee struck to investigate the loss discovered that the Mint had no documented procedures for transport of master dies and that it had shipped them via a local courier in a bid to save $43.50. It was also found to be the third time that the Mint had lost master dies within five years.[13] An internal review by the Royal Canadian Mint argued that while a policy existed to ship the obverse and reverse dies separately, the new coin dies were packaged separately but were part of the same shipment. The Mint also disagreed with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's contention that the dies were simply lost in transit, believing instead that they were stolen.[14] The dies were never recovered. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE :) CLICK HERE https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-AhaUk9es5LVjYVV15xDFA?sub_confirmation=1 SUBSCRIBE: goo.gl/ZDKm2V ♡SUB4SUB♡►► https://goo.gl/T6fR31 https://www.SOUNDBOOKSFUNTOYS.COM
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