The Royal Canadian Mint has released a lot of unique coins, including green toonies, blue dimes, purple loonies and black toonies.
You might have rare Canadian coins in your change and not even know it!
Earlier this year, the Mint told Narcity that these commemorative circulation coins are “more exclusive” and rarer than classic circulation coins.
Almost 23 million $1 coins and more than eight million $2 coins are minted in Canada every year.
But commemorative circulation coins typically have a limited mintage of just three million.
“There is a tendency for the public to collect and keep those coins, which removes a significant percentage from circulation,” the Mint said.
That’s because of the unique designs, like pops of colour and special artwork.
“It can be safe to say that such coins will circulate less over time,” the Mint told Narcity.
So, if you find these coins in your change, you might want to hold onto them because they could be worth money someday!
Supreme Court of Canada loonie (2025)
This $1 coin commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada.
It features an engraving of the exterior façade of the Supreme Court of Canada building in Ottawa, including the two bronze justices and truth statues that stand outside the court.
The court’s 150th-anniversary logo is overlaid on the front steps of the Supreme Court of Canada building.
It’s a dark blue circle with the inscription “150” and a white laurel leaf branch.
Two versions of this circulation coin were minted: the blue and white version and the entirely gold coloured version.
Jean Paul Riopelle toonie (2023)
This $2 coin honouring artist Jean-Paul Riopelle is a piece of art because the inner core features part of Riopelle’s artwork from 1992: L’Hommage à Rosa Luxemburg.
It also features the original orange, blue, brown and white colours of Riopelle’s piece.
In 2023, two million coins with orange, blue, brown and white hues were minted, and one million without colour were minted.
L. M. Montgomery loonie (2024)
This $1 coin honours L. M. Montgomery, one of Canada’s most well-known writers and the author of Anne of Green Gables.
It features a portrait of Montgomery along with her signature and the drawing of a cat she often included with her signature.
There is also a portrait of her most famous character, Anne Shirley, looking at P.E.I. farmland.
Behind Montgomery and Shirley, the sky is coloured blue and the farmland is in green and orange hues.
Three million of these loonies were minted, including two million that feature the colour enhancement.
Bill Reid toonie (2020)
This $2 coin honouring Bill Reid (Iljuwas) celebrates his legacy by featuring his artwork.
On the inner core of the toonie is Xuu.ajii, the Haida Grizzly Bear, which is one of Reid’s most iconic pieces of art.
The famous artwork is in red, white and black — the colours of Haida artistic tradition.
Three million of these coins were minted, and two million feature the Haida Grizzly Bear in red, white and black.
Oscar Peterson loonie (2022)
This $1 coin celebrates Oscar Peterson, a world-renowned pianist and composer who was born in Montreal.
The loonie features Peterson playing a piano while musical notes from the closing bars of his song “Hymn to Freedom” float out of the instrument.
Behind Peterson, the coin has a splash of purple because that was his favourite colour.
There was a limited mintage of three million coins, two million of which feature the purple accent.
National Indigenous Peoples Day toonie (2023)
This $2 coin for National Indigenous Peoples Day honours the “rich and diverse cultural heritages” of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people.
It features three unique designs representing First Nations, Inuit and Métis people and communities.
The inner core of the toonie is green instead of gold with splashes of red, orange, white and black.
In 2023, three million of these coins were minted, including two million featuring the green, red, orange, white and black design.
Alexander Graham Bell loonie (2022)
The $1 Alexander Graham Bell coin was released on the 175th anniversary of his birthday to celebrate his achievements.
It features a portrait of Bell and two of his inventions, the HD-4 Hydrofoil and the Silver Dart, in front of streaks of blue that look like the sky.
This loonie was limited to a mintage of three million coins, two million of which feature the blue colour enhancement.
Queen Elizabeth toonie (2022)
The Queen Elizabeth II black toonie is the first circulation coin in Canada to feature a black-nickel-coloured design.
This $2 coin has the classic elements of a toonie — the gold inner core that features a polar bear on one side and the Queen’s effigy on the other — but the outer ring is black instead of silver.
It’s meant to be reminiscent of a mourning armband.
Almost five million of these coins were minted in 2022.
Inuit Nunangat toonie (2024)
This $2 circulation coin celebrating Inuit Nunangat features artwork from four artists, a first for Canadian coinage.
The light blue inner core of the toonie features an image of Nuliajuk — the spirit of the sea — wearing an atigi (parka) along with a walrus, two beluga whales, a seal, and an arctic char.
There are four artistic interpretations of uluit (knives) on the right side of the outer ring and “Inuit Nunangat” on the left.
In 2024, three million Inuit Nunangat coins were minted, including two million with a light blue inner core.
Equality loonie (2019)
This $1 equality coin commemorates 50 years of progress in recognizing the rights of LGBTQ+ people in Canada.
The loonie features “EQUALITY-ÉGALITÉ” and the signature work of Vancouver artist Joe Average: an image of two intertwined faces reflects gender fluidity and the spectrum of genders.
It had a limited mintage of three million coins.
Discovery of insulin toonie (2021)
This $2 circulation coin celebrates the 100th anniversary of a Canadian medical breakthrough: the discovery of insulin.
It features the classic silver and gold toonie design but with a splash of light blue to highlight the monomer, a building block of the insulin molecule.
Two million coloured versions and one million uncoloured versions of the coin were minted in 2021.
Klondike Gold Rush loonie (2021)
This $1 circulation coin marks the 125th anniversary of the discovery of gold in the Klondike.
It features the people credited with the discovery of gold on Rabbit Creek that started the Klondike Gold Rush in 1896: Keish (Skookum Jim Mason), K̲áa Goox̱ (Dawson Charlie), Shaaw Tláa (Kate Carmack) and her husband George Carmack.
There’s a red icon representing the Moosehide Gathering place, where the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation relocated after being displaced by gold rushers.
Two million coloured versions and one million uncoloured versions of the coin were minted.
World War II victory toonie (2020)
This $2 circulation coin celebrates the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Canadians who served on the battlefield and at home.
The “V” for Victory on the inner core is purple and overlaid with a flaming red and orange torch.
Also, the toonie features a message engraved on the silver outer ring in Morse code: “We win when we work willingly.”
It had a limited mintage of three million coins, two million of which feature colour.
Bluenose dime (2021)
The Royal Canadian Mint redesigned the image of Bluenose, the famous fishing schooner, back in 2021.
This is Canada’s first-ever coloured dime, and it features a splash of blue underneath the boat that’s reminiscent of the North Atlantic waters that Bluenose sailed.
Six million dimes with colour and nine million uncoloured versions of the coin were minted.
Northern lights toonie (2017)
This $2 coin for Canada 150, which was released in 2017, is called Dance of the Spirits.
It features a dark blue sky with green northern lights above a tree-lined lake where people are canoeing.
The two-dollar coin is the world’s first coloured bimetallic coin and the first circulation coin to feature glow-in-the-dark technology.
Summit Series toonie (2022)
This $2 coin of the 1972 Summit Series celebrates the 50th anniversary of a historic hockey win for Team Canada over Team USSR.
The toonie’s inner core features two Team Canada hockey players skating with the team’s maple leaf jersey emblem behind them.
Also, the coaches’ initials and the jersey numbers of each player from the team are on the outer ring.
Three million coins were minted, including two million that feature a fully coloured inner core.
Elsie MacGill loonie (2022)
This $1 coin honours Elsie MacGill, an engineer and advocate for women’s rights known as the “Queen of the Hurricanes.”
She played a key role in the production of Hawker Hurricanes fighter planes used by the Allied forces during World War II.
The loonie is mostly gold-coloured with a hint of green and brown hues to represent military camo.
Two million coloured coins and one million classic-hued loonies were minted.
Royal Canadian Air Force toonie (2024)
This $2 coin marks the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).
With the RCAF toonie, there’s a dark blue inner core that features the RCAF roundel (in blue, red and white) above a Model H of the CC-130 Hercules. The anniversary years — 1924 and 2024 — appear beneath the military aircraft.
Also, eight current and historical RCAF aircraft appear on the silver outer ring of the coin.
This article was originally published on Narcity.
