1966 Canadian Dime

Quick answers

Is the 1966 Canadian Dime rare?

Not by mintage. 34.6 million were made, but it is silver, so even worn examples are worth their metal value rather than face value.

How many 1966 Canadian dimes were made?

34,567,898 were struck for circulation.

What is the 1966 Canadian Dime made of?

80% silver, 20% copper. It weighs 2.33 g and measures 18.03 mm.

Is the 1966 Canadian Dime still legal tender?

Yes. Canadian dimes are legal tender, but a silver one is worth more for its metal than its face value.

How to recognize it

The 1966 Canadian Dime is round, 18.03 mm across and 80% silver, 20% copper.

1966 Canadian Dime by the numbers

By the numbers, the 1966 Canadian Dime ranks 90th lowest of 157 Canadian dime dates and varieties from 1858 to 2024. The next scarcer is the 1961 Canadian Dime (26.9 million); the next more common is the 1971 Canadian Dime (41 million).

For scale, the most common is the 2008 Canadian Dime with 467.5 million, about 14 times as many. The scarcest is the 1884 Canadian Dime with 150,000, 230 times fewer than this one.

Compared with the dates around it, the 1966 output was 1.6 times fewer than 1965 and 1.8 times fewer than 1967.

Over the 1960s the Mint produced 659 million dimes across 12 dates and varieties; the 1966 Canadian Dime accounts for 5.2% of that.

What to check on your 1966 Canadian Dime

• Check the date first: silver Canadian dimes carry dates from 1858 to 1968; this one has 0.0599 troy oz. Silver coins are not magnetic and ring clearly when dropped on a hard surface.
• Never clean it. Rubbing or polishing leaves fine scratches that collectors spot at once and that cut the value of silver dates sharply.
• Look at the high points of the portrait and the design. Wear there sets the grade. The grade in turn drives the value of older dimes.

Centennial and the end of silver (1965 to 1968)

These four years changed the dime more than any period since 1858. In 1965 Arnold Machin's new portrait of Elizabeth II wearing a tiara replaced Gillick's, with the shorter legend ELIZABETH II D·G·REGINA. In 1967 Canada marked a hundred years since Confederation with special reverses by the painter Alex Colville and the dime showed a mackerel in place of the Bluenose. The centennial coins carry the dates 1867 and 1967. The schooner came back in 1968.

Meanwhile the price of silver kept rising and a silver dime was close to being worth more as metal than as money. Partway through 1967 the mint cut the silver content from 80 to 50 percent without changing the weight of 2.33 g. Early 1968 dimes were also 50 percent silver, but later that year the dime became pure nickel, lighter at 2.07 g. Demand was so heavy that the United States Mint in Philadelphia struck 85,170,000 of the 1968 nickel dimes, alongside 87,412,930 from Ottawa.

So 1967 and 1968 each come in two metals that look identical. The magnet is your friend: a pure nickel dime is attracted to a magnet while silver ones are not. Telling 80 percent from 50 percent silver, or Ottawa from Philadelphia nickel, takes closer work with weight, specific gravity or the edge reeding. Silver dimes from these years were pulled from circulation in huge numbers for their metal.

Mintage chart

Specifications