1967 50% Silver Canadian Quarter
The 1967 50% Silver Canadian Quarter is a Canadian quarter struck for circulation with 48.9 million made. Value band: metal value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1967
- Circulation mintage
- 48,855,500
- Value band
- Metal value
- Composition
- 50% silver, 50% 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 a 1967 50% Silver Canadian Quarter worth?
The 1967 50% Silver Canadian Quarter is a silver coin with 0.0937 troy ounces of pure silver, so its floor is its metal value: 0.0937 times the day's silver spot price. With 48.9 million made, worn examples trade for about their silver; collectors pay more for sharp, original coins and much more for uncirculated ones with full luster.
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 1967 50% Silver Canadian Quarter rare?
- Not by mintage. 48.9 million were made, but it is silver, so even worn examples are worth their metal value rather than face value.
- How many 1967 50% Silver Canadian quarters were made?
- 48,855,500 were struck for circulation (a combined figure for the 50% Silver and 80% Silver varieties).
- What is the 1967 50% Silver Canadian Quarter made of?
- 50% silver, 50% copper. It weighs 5.83 g and measures 23.88 mm.
- Is the 1967 50% Silver 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 1967 quarter in context
By 1967 the silver in a Canadian quarter was rising toward the value of the coin itself. To keep quarters in circulation, the mint cut the silver content to 50 percent partway through the centennial year. Coins struck after the change are the 50 percent version of Alex Colville's bobcat quarter, identical in design to the 80 percent coins made earlier in the year. Canada's ten cent piece went through the same change in 1967. From the outside, nothing marked the change at all. The mint added no mark and kept the date.
The published mintage of 48,855,500 covers both alloys together, so the share made in 50 percent silver is not known. The lower alloy continued into 1968, when 71,464,000 more quarters were struck in 50 percent silver with the caribou design before the switch to pure nickel. The 50 percent bobcat is therefore a transitional coin: centennial on the outside, a cheaper alloy inside and the first step toward silver-free quarters. Few people at the time knew the difference existed.
How to recognize it
Colville's bobcat strides across the reverse with CANADA, 25 CENTS and the dates 1867 and 1967. The obverse is Arnold Machin's tiara portrait of the queen with ELIZABETH II D·G·REGINA. The 50 percent coin looks and weighs the same as the 80 percent one, 5.83 g on a 23.88 mm planchet, so neither the design nor a scale will tell them apart. Its pure silver content is about 0.094 troy ounces, a little under two thirds of the earlier coin. Like all silver quarters, it does not stick to a magnet. Wear shows first on the bobcat's head and shoulder. There is no mint mark.
1967 50% Silver Canadian Quarter by the numbers
The published 48,855,500 for 1967 covers both the 50% Silver and 80% Silver varieties together, so neither can be ranked on its own. As a date, 1967 sits 96th lowest among Canadian quarter dates by output.
Compared with the dates around it, the 1967 output was 1.9 times the 1966 figure and 1.5 times fewer than 1968. Other 1967 quarters: 1967 80% Silver Canadian Quarter.
Over the 1960s the Mint produced 540.6 million quarters across 11 dates and varieties; the 1967 50% Silver Canadian Quarter accounts for 9.0% of that.
What to check on your 1967 50% Silver Canadian Quarter
- Check the date first: silver Canadian quarters carry dates from 1870 to 1968; this one has 0.0937 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.
Because the alloys can't be separated by eye, most bobcat quarters change hands simply as silver, with a small premium above their metal for nice examples. Testing can confirm the alloy if it matters to you. The coin is common, so condition is the main factor: look for sharp detail on the bobcat's fur and face. Centennial coins still in their original mint packaging are popular too. Worn coins are common in old jars and are still silver, so they should not be spent.
Centennial and the end of silver, 1967 to 1968
For Canada's centennial in 1967 every circulating coin got a one-year design by the painter Alex Colville. The quarter shows a bobcat, also described as a lynx, striding across the field with the dates 1867 and 1967. The obverse kept Arnold Machin's portrait of the queen. Colville's set was hugely popular and people saved them in quantity, which is one reason the centennial quarter still turns up so often in old coin jars.
Behind the celebration, silver was getting too expensive to put in pocket change. Partway through 1967 the quarter dropped from 80 percent to 50 percent silver with no change in weight or appearance, which cut the pure silver to about 0.094 troy ounces. The published 1967 mintage of 48,855,500 covers both alloys together. In 1968 the caribou returned and the mint struck 71,464,000 more quarters in 50 percent silver before switching to pure nickel, with 88,686,931 nickel coins that year.
You can't tell an 80 percent 1967 from a 50 percent one by eye, since both weigh 5.83 g and look the same; separating them takes a metal test. A 1968 is easier. Hold it to a magnet: nickel sticks, silver does not. On a scale the nickel coin is lighter, at 5.07 g. Both 1967 versions and the 1968 silver quarter contain real silver, so they are worth more than face value, while a 1968 nickel quarter is an ordinary coin.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 25 cents |
| Issuer | Royal Canadian Mint |
| Year | 1967 |
| Circulation mintage | 48,855,500 (with the 80% Silver variety) |
| Composition | 50% silver, 50% copper |
| Weight | 5.83 g |
| Diameter | 23.88 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Reeded |
Other 1967 Canadian quarters
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 1967 80% Silver Canadian Quarter | 48,855,500 | Metal value |
Frequently asked questions
When did Canadian quarters change to 50 percent silver?
Partway through 1967. Quarters struck earlier that year are 80 percent silver and later ones 50 percent. Both carry the bobcat design and share one published mintage of 48,855,500. A metal test separates them.
How much silver is in a 50 percent 1967 quarter?
About 0.094 troy ounces of pure silver in a 5.83 g coin. That is less than the roughly 0.15 ounces of the 80 percent version, but still enough to make the coin worth more than face value.
Mintage figures: Quarter (Canadian coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Canadian Mint figures. How we build these pages.