1890 H Canadian Penny
The 1890 H Canadian Penny is a one-cent coin struck for circulation with 1 million made. Value band: collector premium. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1890
- Circulation mintage
- 1,000,000
- Value band
- Collector premium
- Composition
- Bronze (95.5% copper, 3% tin, 1.5% zinc)
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 an 1890 H Canadian Penny worth?
With 1 million struck, the 1890 H Canadian Penny ranks 3rd lowest of the 151 Canadian cent dates and varieties we track. Collectors pay a collector premium even for worn examples. Sharp, uncirculated coins with no marks bring considerably more.
What would make yours worth more:
- Original red color rather than brown
- Sharp detail in the portrait and leaves
- 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 1890 H Canadian Penny rare?
- Yes, by the standards of Canadian pennies. With 1 million struck, the 1890 H Canadian Penny ranks 3rd lowest of the 151 Canadian cent dates and varieties we track.
- How many 1890 H Canadian pennies were made?
- 1,000,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1890 H Canadian Penny made of?
- Bronze (95.5% copper, 3% tin, 1.5% zinc). It weighs 5.67 g and measures 25.4 mm.
- Is the 1890 H Canadian Penny still legal tender?
- Yes. The Royal Canadian Mint stopped distributing cents in 2013, but they remain legal tender. Cash payments are rounded to the nearest five cents, so most pennies now sit in jars or go to banks.
The 1890 penny in context
No cents are dated 1889 and when production resumed in 1890 the order went to the Heaton mint in Birmingham once more. Only one million coins were made, a quarter of the 1888 total. That puts the 1890-H in the small group of Victorian cents with a mintage of just one million, alongside 1894, 1898-H and the 1900 London strike.
Small orders like this reflect how irregular Canada's cent supply was in the late nineteenth century. The government bought coins in batches when stocks ran low and the mintage could swing from four million one year to nothing the next. The 1890-H was the first Heaton cent since 1882 and the following year's coins went back to London. Collectors prize this date because the small original mintage was then thinned out by decades of hard use. Many of the survivors are well worn and a coin with sharp detail is a real find. If you are working through a box of old large cents, this is one of the dates worth setting aside.
How to recognize it
Like the other Victorian Dominion cents, the 1890-H shows the queen wearing a diadem with VICTORIA DEI GRATIA REGINA CANADA around her. The reverse has ONE CENT and 1890 inside a beaded circle, a maple vine around the rim and a small H below the date. The H is the key detail here: no Canadian cents dated 1890 were struck in London, so a genuine coin should show it clearly. The 1890-H cent is 25.4 mm across and weighs 5.67 g. If the last digit is weak, the H settles things, since the 1891 that followed was a London coin with no mark at all.
1890 H Canadian Penny by the numbers
In mintage terms the 1890 H Canadian Penny ranks 3rd lowest of 151 Canadian cent dates and varieties from 1858 to 2012. The next scarcer is the 1907 H Canadian Penny (800,000); the next more common is the 1894 Canadian Penny (1 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1981 Round Canadian Penny with 1.21 billion, about 1209 times as many. The scarcest is the 1858 Canadian Penny with 421,000, 2.4 times fewer than this one.
Compared with the dates around it, the 1890 output was 4 times fewer than 1888 and 1.5 times fewer than 1891.
Over the 1890s the Mint produced 14.8 million cents across 10 dates and varieties; the 1890 H Canadian Penny accounts for 6.8% of that.
What to check on your 1890 H Canadian Penny
- Confirm the variety: Heaton mint mark. Use a magnifier and compare with a reference picture before you assume you have the scarcer one.
- Check the color. Collectors describe copper cents as red, red-brown or brown; original red color is worth far more than toned or dull surfaces.
- Never clean it. Rubbing, polishing or dipping leaves fine scratches and an unnatural color that collectors spot at once.
- Look at the high points of the portrait and the lettering. Wear there sets the grade. The grade in turn drives the value of older cents.
With one million made, the 1890-H is a recognized scarce date and draws a collector premium in every grade. Coins with full leaf veins, clear hair strands and even brown color are in demand. Problem coins are common: cleaned surfaces, rim knocks and corrosion. Those reduce interest a great deal, so a modest but honest coin is often a better choice than a higher grade one with damage. Scarce dates attract altered digits, so check the date closely and make sure the H looks like it belongs, sharp and in line with the date.
Victoria large cents of the Dominion, 1876 to 1901
Confederation in 1867 created the Dominion of Canada, but it took nine more years before the new country needed cents of its own, because the province's 1859 stock was still being paid out. The first Dominion cents are dated 1876. They kept the 25.4 mm size and the familiar reverse of ONE CENT and the date in a beaded circle surrounded by a maple vine, but the coin got heavier: 5.67 g, one eightieth of a pound. Victoria now appears older, wearing a diadem, with the legend VICTORIA DEI GRATIA REGINA CANADA.
Canada still had no mint, so the cents came from England. The Royal Mint in London struck most years, while the private Heaton mint in Birmingham handled several orders and marked them with a small H below the date. The H years are 1876, 1881, 1882, 1890, 1898 and 1900 and 1900 was struck at both mints. Production was irregular. There are no cents dated 1877 to 1880, 1883, 1885 or 1889 and yearly mintages swing between one million and about four million.
Start by reading the date and checking for the H, because that pairing identifies the issue. The lowest mintages of the reign are the one million coin years: 1890-H, 1894, 1898-H and 1900 without an H. Those draw a collector premium even when worn. The four million dates such as 1876-H, 1882-H and 1888 are the easiest to find. These coins circulated for decades, so most are smooth. Sharp leaf veins, visible strands of hair and natural brown or red color are what separate a collector's coin from an ordinary one.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 cent |
| Issuer | Royal Canadian Mint |
| Year | 1890 |
| Circulation mintage | 1,000,000 |
| Composition | Bronze (95.5% copper, 3% tin, 1.5% zinc) |
| Weight | 5.67 g |
| Diameter | 25.4 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Plain |
Frequently asked questions
How many 1890-H cents were made?
The records show one million for circulation, a quarter of the 1888 figure. Only three other Victorian Dominion cents share that low mintage: 1894, 1898-H and the 1900 without an H.
Is there an 1890 Canadian cent without the H?
No. All of Canada's 1890 cents came from the Heaton mint in Birmingham, so a genuine coin carries the H below the date. If yours seems to lack it, look again under strong light before assuming anything.
Mintage figures: Penny (Canadian coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Canadian Mint figures. How we build these pages.