1967 80% Silver Canadian Dime
The 1967 80% Silver Canadian Dime is a Canadian dime struck for circulation with 63 million made. Value band: metal value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1967
- Circulation mintage
- 62,998,215
- Value band
- Metal value
- Composition
- 80% silver, 20% copper
Original illustration of the coin's shape and metal. Tap to flip. Not a picture of the actual design.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 1967 80% Silver Canadian Dime worth?
The 1967 80% Silver Canadian Dime is a silver coin with 0.0599 troy ounces of pure silver, so its floor is its metal value: 0.0599 times the day's silver spot price. With 63 million made, worn examples trade for about their silver; collectors pay more for sharp, original coins and much more for uncirculated ones with full luster.
What would make yours worth more:
- Sharp detail with original luster
- A recognized variety for the date
- Professional grading for a key date
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 1967 80% Silver Canadian Dime rare?
- Not by mintage. 63 million were made, but it is silver, so even worn examples are worth their metal value rather than face value.
- How many 1967 80% Silver Canadian dimes were made?
- 62,998,215 were struck for circulation (a combined figure for the 80% Silver and 50% Silver varieties).
- What is the 1967 80% Silver Canadian Dime made of?
- 80% silver, 20% copper. It weighs 2.33 g and measures 18.03 mm.
- Is the 1967 80% Silver 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.
The 1967 dime in context
For Canada's centennial in 1967, the dime briefly left the schooner behind. The painter Alex Colville designed a set of reverses showing Canadian wildlife and the dime carried a mackerel, a fish familiar to anyone from Atlantic Canada. The coins carry two dates, 1867 and 1967, marking a hundred years since Confederation. The Royal Canadian Mint struck 62,998,215 centennial dimes, a figure that covers both the 80 percent and 50 percent silver versions.
The year began with dimes in the traditional 80 percent silver standard. But silver prices kept rising and the coins were vanishing into private hoards almost as fast as the mint could strike them. Partway through 1967 the government cut the silver content to 50 percent. The 80 percent coins are the earlier of the two and the last Canadian dimes ever made to the standard set in 1920. Most people at the time had no idea there were two versions, since the coins look identical. The centennial mackerel, though, was a favorite and many were saved as souvenirs.
How to recognize it
The obverse carries Arnold Machin's portrait of the queen wearing a tiara, with ELIZABETH II D·G·REGINA. On the reverse, Colville's mackerel swims across the coin with CANADA, 10 CENTS and the dates 1867 and 1967. This version is 80 percent silver at about 2.33 g and 18 mm with a reeded edge, holding roughly 0.06 troy oz of silver. It looks exactly like the 50 percent silver coin. The only reliable ways to tell them apart are a specific gravity test or a professional metal analysis, since the weights are the same. The Ottawa mint left its coins unmarked, so look for no letter. Neither version is attracted to a magnet.
1967 80% Silver Canadian Dime by the numbers
The published 62,998,215 for 1967 covers both the 80% Silver and 50% Silver varieties together, so neither can be ranked on its own. As a date, 1967 sits 103rd lowest among Canadian dime dates by output.
Compared with the dates around it, the 1967 output was 1.8 times the 1966 figure and 1.1 times fewer than 1968. Other 1967 dimes: 1967 50% Silver Canadian Dime.
Over the 1960s the Mint produced 659 million dimes across 12 dates and varieties; the 1967 80% Silver Canadian Dime accounts for 9.6% of that.
What to check on your 1967 80% Silver 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.
The 1967 80 percent silver dime is common and valued mainly for its silver content in circulated condition. Uncirculated coins from the many centennial sets carry a small premium. Because the two versions look identical, most people simply keep their centennial dimes as silver coins without trying to separate them. If you want to know which you have, a jeweler or coin dealer with testing equipment can help. Do not clean centennial dimes, since bright polished coins lose their appeal to collectors. The original luster is far better.
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
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 10 cents |
| Issuer | Royal Canadian Mint |
| Year | 1967 |
| Circulation mintage | 62,998,215 (with the 50% Silver variety) |
| Composition | 80% silver, 20% copper |
| Weight | 2.33 g |
| Diameter | 18.03 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Reeded |
Other 1967 Canadian dimes
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 1967 50% Silver Canadian Dime | 62,998,215 | Metal value |
Frequently asked questions
What fish is on the 1967 Canadian dime?
A mackerel. Alex Colville designed the 1967 centennial reverses and the dime's mackerel was one of a set of Canadian animals that replaced the regular designs for the hundredth anniversary of Confederation.
How do you tell an 80 percent silver 1967 dime from a 50 percent one?
You cannot tell by looking or by weight alone, since both weigh about 2.33 g. A specific gravity test or a metal analysis is needed. The published mintage covers both versions together.
Mintage figures: Dime (Canadian coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Canadian Mint figures. How we build these pages.