2003 Canadian Penny

Quick answers

Is the 2003 Canadian Penny rare?

No. 92.2 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.

How many 2003 Canadian pennies were made?

92,219,775 were struck for circulation.

What is the 2003 Canadian Penny made of?

Copper-plated zinc (98.4% zinc, 1.6% copper plating). It weighs 2.25 g and measures 19.05 mm.

Is the 2003 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 2003 Canadian Penny is round, 19.05 mm across and copper-plated zinc (98.4% zinc, 1.6% copper plating).

2003 Canadian Penny by the numbers

In mintage terms the 2003 Canadian Penny ranks 91st lowest of 151 Canadian cent dates and varieties from 1858 to 2012. The next scarcer is the 1943 Canadian Penny (89.1 million); the next more common is the 1957 Canadian Penny (100.6 million).

For scale, the most common is the 1981 Round Canadian Penny with 1.21 billion, about 13 times as many. The scarcest is the 1858 Canadian Penny with 421,000, 219 times fewer than this one.

Compared with the dates around it, the 2003 output was 1.2 times fewer than 2002 and 7.1 times fewer than 2004. Other 2003 cents: 2003 P Canadian Penny (235.9 million), 2003 Uncrowned Canadian Penny (56.9 million) and 2003 P Uncrowned Canadian Penny (591.3 million).

Over the 2000s the Mint produced 8.29 billion cents across 19 dates and varieties; the 2003 Canadian Penny accounts for 1.1% of that.

What to check on your 2003 Canadian Penny

• Try a magnet: a genuine 2003 Canadian Penny is plated zinc and does not stick.
• Check the color. Collectors describe copper cents as red, red-brown or brown; bright original 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.

Crowned and uncrowned portraits, 1990 to 2003

Dora de Pédery-Hunt's crowned portrait of the queen arrived in 1990, making her the first Canadian artist to design the royal effigy for Canada's coins. In 1992 cents carried the double date 1867-1992 for the 125th anniversary of Confederation. The 12-sided shape ended after 1996. From 1997 the cent was round again and made of zinc with a thin copper plating, 2.25 g, as the price of copper made a solid bronze coin too costly. Cents dated 2002 carry 1952-2002 for the Golden Jubilee of the queen's accession.

Copper-plated steel arrived on circulation cents dated 2002. These are marked with a small P for plated and weigh 2.35 g and for several years zinc and steel coins were made side by side. In 2003, fifty years after the coronation, Susanna Blunt's portrait replaced de Pédery-Hunt's. It shows the queen without a crown and it stayed on the cent until production ended. That gives 2003 four distinct types: crowned without a P, crowned with a P, uncrowned without a P and uncrowned with a P.

The useful checks here are the portrait, the shape and a magnet. A 12-sided coin is from 1996 or earlier. A P under the portrait means plated steel and a fridge magnet will pick those up while zinc cents ignore it. On 2003 coins, look at the queen's head first: a crown or bare hair tells you which portrait you have. Mintages are huge, apart from a few short runs in 2003, so almost every coin here is face value unless it is a variety in sharp condition.

Mintage chart

Specifications

Other 2003 Canadian pennies