1945 Steel Canadian Nickel
The 1945 Steel Canadian Nickel is a Canadian nickel struck for circulation with 18.9 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1945
- Circulation mintage
- 18,893,216
- Value band
- Face value
- Composition
- Plated steel
Original illustration of the coin's shape and metal. Tap to flip. Not a picture of the actual design.
Face value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 1945 Steel Canadian Nickel worth?
With 18.9 million made, the 1945 Steel Canadian Nickel is common and worth face value in circulated condition. Only uncirculated coins with full luster, recognized varieties and genuine errors interest collectors.
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 1945 Steel Canadian Nickel rare?
- No. 18.9 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 1945 Steel Canadian nickels were made?
- 18,893,216 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1945 Steel Canadian Nickel made of?
- Plated steel. It weighs 4.54 g and measures 21.2 mm, with a 12-sided shape.
- Is the 1945 Steel Canadian Nickel still legal tender?
- Yes. Canadian 5-cent coins are legal tender.
The 1945 nickel in context
The 1945 nickel is the last Victory coin of the war. The mint struck 18,893,216 on chrome-plated steel, keeping the torch, the V and the Morse code message from 1943 and 1944. The war in Europe ended in May 1945 and in the Pacific in August, so the message on the coin had come true by the time many of these pieces were in circulation. The mintage was the second largest of the war years after 1943. Many of these coins stayed in circulation for decades.
With peace restored, nickel returned to the five cents in 1946 along with the beaver. That made the 1945 the end of a four year wartime run that began with the tombac beaver of 1942. The Victory design itself would not reappear until 2005, when the Royal Canadian Mint revived it to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the end of the war. Because the 1945 mintage was large, it is easy to find, but like the 1944 it often suffers from rust. A bright, clean 1945 is a good symbol of the moment the war ended.
How to recognize it
Thomas Shingles' Victory reverse appears once more: a torch over a large V, with the value, the country and the date around it and the Morse code message running along the rim. The obverse carries Paget's George VI, bare headed and facing left. The coin is 12-sided and struck in steel plated with nickel and chrome, giving it a cool, bright look. It is magnetic, unlike the tombac Victory coin of 1943. The design is identical to 1944, so only the date separates the two steel years. On a good coin the plating still shines and the Morse code is crisp.
1945 Steel Canadian Nickel by the numbers
In mintage terms the 1945 Steel Canadian Nickel ranks 92nd lowest of 161 Canadian nickel dates and varieties from 1858 to 2024. The next scarcer is the 1953 Canadian Nickel (16.6 million); the next more common is the 2017 150th Anniversary Canadian Nickel (20 million).
For scale, the most common is the 2008 Canadian Nickel with 278.5 million, about 15 times as many. The scarcest is the 1884 Canadian Nickel with 200,000, 94 times fewer than this one.
Compared with the dates around it, the 1945 output was 1.6 times the 1944 figure and 2.7 times the 1946 figure.
Over the 1940s the Mint produced 127.6 million five cent coins across 12 dates and varieties; the 1945 Steel Canadian Nickel accounts for 15% of that.
What to check on your 1945 Steel Canadian Nickel
- Try a magnet. Plated steel is magnetic, so a genuine 1945 coin sticks; a silver one would not.
- Confirm the variety: chrome-plated steel wartime issue. Use a magnifier and compare with a reference picture before you assume you have the scarcer one.
- Never clean it. Rubbing or polishing leaves fine scratches and an unnatural shine that collectors avoid.
- 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 five cent coins.
Look for a coin with full, undamaged plating and sharp Morse code. Rust spots, pitting and flaking are very common and lower a coin's appeal sharply. The 1945 makes an excellent pair with the 1944, completing the steel Victory set. Keep it in a dry place and avoid handling it with damp fingers. Coins with bright plating and no spots are the hardest to find and the ones collectors want. Look at the edges too, since rust often starts on the 12 corners where the plating is thinnest. Avoid coins with peeling or bubbled plating.
Wartime tombac and steel nickels (1942 to 1945)
The Second World War took the nickel out of the nickel. The metal was vital for armor plate and munitions, so partway through 1942 the mint stopped using it. The first replacement was tombac, a brass of about 88 percent copper and 12 percent zinc. Because a brass coin could be confused with a worn cent, the new piece was made 12-sided. The first tombac coins of 1942 kept the beaver. In 1943 a new reverse by Thomas Shingles appeared: a flaming torch over a large V for Victory.
Around the rim of the Victory reverse runs a line of dots and dashes. It is Morse code for the slogan We Win When We Work Willingly. Copper and zinc were also needed for the war effort, so in 1944 and 1945 the Victory design was struck on steel plated with nickel and chrome. The 12-sided shape stayed. These coins look silvery like normal nickels but are clearly magnetic and tend to rust where the plating is broken.
The 1942 round pure nickel coin and the 1942 12-sided tombac coin are both common in worn condition, but they are worth separating since they are different metals. Tombac darkens to a brown that can look like copper; a coin that still shows bright brassy color is the one to want. The steel coins are hard to find without spots or pitting, so a clean, fully plated example deserves attention. Check that the Morse code on the Victory coins is sharp.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 5 cents |
| Issuer | Royal Canadian Mint |
| Year | 1945 |
| Circulation mintage | 18,893,216 |
| Composition | Plated steel |
| Weight | 4.54 g |
| Diameter | 21.2 mm |
| Shape | 12-sided |
| Edge | Plain |
Frequently asked questions
Was the Victory nickel used after 1945?
Not for the regular coin. The beaver returned in 1946. The Victory design was revived once in 2005 to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War, with the double date 1945 2005.
Why does a 1945 nickel stick to a magnet?
Because it is made of steel. The 1944 and 1945 Victory coins were struck on steel blanks plated with nickel and chrome. Steel is strongly magnetic, so the coin clings to a magnet.
Mintage figures: Nickel (Canadian coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Canadian Mint figures. How we build these pages.