1870 Canadian Quarter
The 1870 Canadian Quarter is a Canadian quarter struck for circulation with 900,000 made. Value band: small premium. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1870
- Circulation mintage
- 900,000
- Value band
- Small premium
- Composition
- Sterling silver (92.5% silver, 7.5% copper)
Original illustration of the coin's shape and metal. Tap to flip. Not a picture of the actual design.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is an 1870 Canadian Quarter worth?
At 900,000, the 1870 Canadian Quarter has a smaller run than most Canadian quarters, so collectors pay a small premium for it, especially in uncirculated condition. Well circulated examples sit close to face value.
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 1870 Canadian Quarter rare?
- It is scarcer than most Canadian quarters. Collectors pay a small premium for good examples.
- How many 1870 Canadian quarters were made?
- 900,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1870 Canadian Quarter made of?
- Sterling silver (92.5% silver, 7.5% copper). It weighs 5.81 g and measures 23.62 mm.
- Is the 1870 Canadian Quarter still legal tender?
- Yes. Every Canadian quarter is legal tender at 25 cents, but a silver one is worth more for its metal than its face value.
The 1870 quarter in context
The 1870 quarter is where Canada's own 25 cent coin begins. Confederation in 1867 had created the Dominion, but its pockets were still full of American silver, which banks and shops would take only at a discount. In 1870 the government moved to send much of that silver out of the country and replace it with Canadian coins, ordering 5, 10, 25 and 50 cent pieces from the Royal Mint in London. The quarter's first run was 900,000 coins, a big order by the standards of the decades that followed.
Those 1870 coins set a pattern that lasted half a century: sterling silver, a crowned portrait of the monarch and a maple wreath around the value. They also made the quarter one of the hardest working coins in the country, even though Canada would have no mint of its own until 1908. As the first year, the 1870 sits at the start of every date set and many collectors want one for that reason alone. Most surviving coins circulated hard, which is no surprise for a coin that stayed spendable for generations.
How to recognize it
Victoria's crowned portrait is framed by VICTORIA DEI GRATIA REGINA CANADA. The reverse has 25 CENTS and 1870 in the center, inside a wreath of maple leaves tied at the bottom, with a crown above. There is no mint mark, since every 1870 quarter came from London; the H coins from Birmingham begin the following year. The coin is sterling silver, about 5.81 g and a little under 24 mm across, holding roughly 0.173 troy ounces of pure silver. On a worn piece, the 7 and the 0 are the digits to read with care, because an 1870 and an 1876 are easy to confuse and no quarters were struck in 1876.
1870 Canadian Quarter by the numbers
By the numbers, the 1870 Canadian Quarter ranks 34th lowest of 147 Canadian quarter dates and varieties from 1870 to 2024. The next scarcer is the 1903 Canadian Quarter (846,150); the next more common is the 1883 H Canadian Quarter (960,000).
For scale, the most common is the 2000 Canadian Quarter with 434.1 million, about 482 times as many. The scarcest is the 1889 Canadian Quarter with 66,324, 14 times fewer than this one.
Compared with the dates around it, the 1870 output was 2.3 times the 1871 figure.
Over the 1870s the Mint produced 6.89 million quarters across 6 dates and varieties; the 1870 Canadian Quarter accounts for 13% of that.
What to check on your 1870 Canadian Quarter
- Check the date first: silver Canadian quarters carry dates from 1870 to 1968; this one has 0.1728 troy oz. Silver coins are not magnetic and ring clearly when dropped on a hard surface.
- Never clean it. Rubbing or polishing leaves fine scratches that collectors spot at once and that cut the value of silver dates sharply.
- 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 quarters.
A mintage of 900,000 puts 1870 in the middle of the Victorian range, well above key dates like 1889 and 1887. Even so, nearly all Victorian quarters carry a collector premium and the first year adds its own appeal. Most 1870s that turn up are worn to the point where the queen's hair and the crown are flat. Coins with clear hair strands and visible leaf veins are much harder to find. If yours looks unusually sharp, a grading service can confirm its condition and authenticity.
Victoria sterling quarters, 1870 to 1901
Canada's first 25 cent coins are dated 1870, three years after Confederation. At the time the young Dominion was awash with American silver coins that circulated at a discount, so the government pushed much of that silver out of the country and ordered silver coins of its own in 5, 10, 25 and 50 cent sizes. Canada had no mint, so the coins were struck in England. The obverse shows a crowned Queen Victoria with the legend VICTORIA DEI GRATIA REGINA CANADA. On the reverse, 25 CENTS and the date sit inside a wreath of maple leaves with a crown at the top.
These were sterling silver, 92.5 percent pure, weighing about 5.81 g, which works out to roughly 0.173 troy ounces of pure silver per coin. The Royal Mint in London struck most years, while the private Heaton mint in Birmingham filled several orders and added a small H to the coins it made. Orders followed demand and demand was patchy. No quarters are dated 1873, 1876 to 1879, 1884 or 1895 to 1898. Published mintages swing from 2,240,000 for 1872-H down to just 66,324 for 1889.
Read the date first, then look for the H, because a few years exist both with and without it. The scarce dates of the reign are 1889, the rarest regular Victorian quarter, followed by 1887, 1893, 1891 and 1885, with the Heaton coins of 1875 and 1880 close behind. Most Victorian quarters that survive are well worn, often down to a smooth crown and a faint date, after decades in pockets and tills. Clear hair detail and readable veins in the maple leaves are what lift a coin above the crowd. On the key dates, check the last digit carefully, since a worn 6 or 8 can pass for something rarer.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 25 cents |
| Issuer | Royal Canadian Mint |
| Year | 1870 |
| Circulation mintage | 900,000 |
| Composition | Sterling silver (92.5% silver, 7.5% copper) |
| Weight | 5.81 g |
| Diameter | 23.62 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Reeded |
Frequently asked questions
Is the 1870 quarter the first Canadian 25 cent coin?
Yes. The 1870 quarters are the first 25 cent coins issued by the Dominion of Canada. They were struck in sterling silver at the Royal Mint in London, with a published mintage of 900,000 coins.
How much silver is in an 1870 Canadian quarter?
It is sterling silver, 92.5 percent pure, weighing about 5.81 g. That works out to roughly 0.173 troy ounces of pure silver, so even a heavily worn coin is worth more than face value for its metal.
Mintage figures: Quarter (Canadian coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Canadian Mint figures. How we build these pages.