1955 Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny
The 1955 Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny is a one-cent coin struck for circulation with 56.4 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1955
- Circulation mintage
- 56,403,193
- Value band
- Face value
- Composition
- Bronze (98% copper, 0.5% 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 a 1955 Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny worth?
With 56.4 million made, the 1955 Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny is common. A circulated one is worth face value. The cent is still legal tender even though the Mint stopped issuing it in 2013. Only coins with full original red color, a recognized variety or a genuine error interest collectors.
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 1955 Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny rare?
- No. 56.4 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 1955 Shoulder Fold Canadian pennies were made?
- 56,403,193 were struck for circulation (a combined figure for the Shoulder Fold and No Shoulder Fold varieties).
- What is the 1955 Shoulder Fold 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 1955 Shoulder Fold 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 1955 penny in context
By 1955 the shoulder fold portrait was the standard design and nearly every cent struck that year shows it. The published figure of 56,403,193 covers all 1955 cents, including a small number struck from an old no shoulder fold die. The mintage is lower than 1953 but more than double the 1954 run of about 22 million, as demand for small change picked up again.
On its own, the 1955 shoulder fold is an ordinary cent from the middle of the laureate period. It owes its fame to its scarce twin. The no shoulder fold coins of the same year are one of the most sought after modern Canadian varieties and every 1955 cent that turns up gets checked for that reason. That means the shoulder fold coin is the one you will almost certainly find and the one you need to recognize first so you can rule it in or out quickly. Many collectors keep a nice 1955 shoulder fold for comparison, since having a known example in hand makes the rare variety much easier to spot.
How to recognize it
Mary Gillick's laureate portrait faces right with ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA. A raised fold line crosses the gown at the shoulder, near the bottom of the bust. The reverse shows Kruger Gray's maple twig with CANADA, 1 CENT and 1955. The 1955 shoulder fold cent matches the usual 3.24 g weight and 19.05 mm size. The fold can be weakened by wear or a soft strike, so examine it under a magnifier with side lighting before deciding it isn't there. If you can see even a faint line, you have the common shoulder fold version and not the scarce one. Tilting the coin slowly under one lamp is the quickest way to make a weak fold appear.
1955 Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny by the numbers
The published 56,403,193 for 1955 covers both the Shoulder Fold and No Shoulder Fold varieties together, so neither can be ranked on its own. As a date, 1955 sits 73rd lowest among Canadian penny dates by output.
Compared with the dates around it, the 1955 output was 2.5 times the 1954 figure and 1.4 times fewer than 1956. Other 1955 cents: 1955 No Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny.
Over the 1950s the Mint produced 677.2 million cents across 10 dates and varieties; the 1955 Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny accounts for 8.3% of that.
What to check on your 1955 Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny
- Confirm the variety: shoulder fold. 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.
This is a common coin and worn examples are face value. Full red uncirculated 1955 shoulder fold cents draw a small premium. Its main use for collectors is as a reference: once you have studied a clear shoulder fold coin, a 1955 without the fold stands out immediately. When sorting a batch of 1955 cents, separate any with a very weak or missing fold and look at them again later under better light. Most will turn out to be ordinary fold coins with a soft strike, but the check is quick and the reward for finding the variety is real.
Elizabeth II laureate portrait, 1953 to 1964
Elizabeth II's first Canadian portrait, by Mary Gillick, shows a young queen with a laurel wreath in her hair and no crown, with the legend ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA. Kruger Gray's maple twig reverse carried on unchanged. The coin itself stayed at 19.05 mm and 3.24 g in the wartime alloy of 98% copper, 0.5% tin and 1.5% zinc. The portrait was first cut in high relief, which turned out to cause problems at the mint.
The first 1953 dies did not strike cleanly, with weak detail in the legend and around the rim. The mint revised the master and the easiest way to tell the versions apart is the gown: the revised portrait shows a clear fold line running across the shoulder, while the original has none. Both appear on 1953 cents under one published mintage. In 1955 an old die without the fold was used again, producing the scarce 1955 no shoulder fold cent. Mintages climbed steadily through the decade, passing 100 million in 1957 and reaching about 485 million in 1964.
The shoulder is the thing to check on any 1953 or 1955 cent. Use a magnifier and good light and look at the line of the gown just above the bust's lower edge. Heavy wear can erase a weak fold, so judge varieties on reasonably sharp coins. Apart from those, the dates here are common, though 1954 had a much smaller run of about 22 million. Mint state red coins from this era are easy to find, so worn examples of regular dates are face value coins.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 cent |
| Issuer | Royal Canadian Mint |
| Year | 1955 |
| Circulation mintage | 56,403,193 (with the No Shoulder Fold variety) |
| Composition | Bronze (98% copper, 0.5% tin, 1.5% zinc) |
| Weight | 3.24 g |
| Diameter | 19.05 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Plain |
Other 1955 Canadian pennies
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 1955 No Shoulder Fold Canadian Penny | 56,403,193 | Collector premium |
Frequently asked questions
Is the 1955 Canadian cent rare?
The regular 1955 with the shoulder fold is common, with all 1955 cents sharing a published mintage of 56,403,193. Only the no shoulder fold variety struck from an old 1953 die is scarce.
Why do people check 1955 cents so carefully?
Because a small number were struck from an old die without the shoulder fold. That 1955 no shoulder fold cent is a well known variety that draws a collector premium, so every 1955 is worth a look.
Mintage figures: Penny (Canadian coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Canadian Mint figures. How we build these pages.