1949 Canadian Penny

Quick answers

Is the 1949 Canadian Penny rare?

No. 33.1 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.

How many 1949 Canadian pennies were made?

33,128,933 were struck for circulation.

What is the 1949 Canadian Penny made of?

Bronze (98% copper, 0.5% tin, 1.5% zinc). It weighs 3.24 g and measures 19.05 mm.

Is the 1949 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.

How to recognize it

The 1949 Canadian Penny is round, 19.05 mm across and bronze (98% copper, 0.5% tin, 1.5% zinc).

1949 Canadian Penny by the numbers

In mintage terms the 1949 Canadian Penny ranks 68th lowest of 151 Canadian cent dates and varieties from 1858 to 2012. The next scarcer is the 1947 Canadian Penny (31.1 million); the next more common is the 2009 Non-Magnetic Canadian Penny (36.6 million).

For scale, the most common is the 1981 Round Canadian Penny with 1.21 billion, about 37 times as many. The scarcest is the 1858 Canadian Penny with 421,000, 79 times fewer than this one.

Compared with the dates around it, the 1949 output was 1.3 times the 1948 figure and 1.8 times fewer than 1950.

Over the 1940s the Mint produced 623.2 million cents across 11 dates and varieties; the 1949 Canadian Penny accounts for 5.3% of that.

What to check on your 1949 Canadian Penny

• 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.

George VI cents and the maple twig, 1937 to 1952

Edward VIII abdicated in December 1936 before any Canadian coins bearing his portrait were issued, so the next new portrait belonged to George VI. His cents, first dated 1937, paired a bare-headed effigy by Thomas Humphrey Paget with an all new reverse by George Kruger Gray: a maple twig with two leaves, along with CANADA, 1 CENT and the date. That twig went on to serve for seventy five years, staying on the cent until 2012 apart from the centennial year. The early legend reads GEORGIVS VI D:G: REX ET IND:IMP:.

The Second World War sent demand soaring. Mintages went from about 21.6 million in 1939 to almost 86 million in 1940 and 1943 reached about 89 million. Tin was needed for the war effort, so from 1942 the alloy dropped to 0.5% tin with 98% copper and 1.5% zinc. After India gained independence in 1947, the words ET IND:IMP: had to go. New dies were not ready, so in 1948 the mint kept striking coins with the 1947 date and added a small maple leaf after it. Cents dated 1948 onward read GEORGIVS VI DEI GRATIA REX.

Most cents from these years are common, a natural result of the wartime totals. What matters is the detail. Check 1947 coins for the leaf after the date and read the legend to tell early and late portraits apart. George VI died in February 1952, but cents dated 1952 still carry his portrait. Wear shows on the king's hair above the ear and on the veins of the two leaves. Red coins from bank rolls exist for many of these dates and collectors prefer them to the usual brown.

Mintage chart

Specifications