1999 Canadian Quarter
The 1999 Canadian Quarter is a Canadian quarter struck for circulation with 258.9 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1999
- Circulation mintage
- 258,888,000
- Value band
- Face value
- Composition
- Nickel (99.9%)
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 1999 Canadian Quarter worth?
With 258.9 million made, the 1999 Canadian Quarter is common and worth face value in circulated condition. Only uncirculated coins with full luster, recognized varieties and genuine errors interest collectors.
What would make yours worth more:
- Full uncirculated luster
- A recognized variety or genuine error
- Coins from a specimen or proof set
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 1999 Canadian Quarter rare?
- No. 258.9 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 1999 Canadian quarters were made?
- 258,888,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1999 Canadian Quarter made of?
- Nickel (99.9%). It weighs 5.05 g and measures 23.88 mm.
- Is the 1999 Canadian Quarter still legal tender?
- Yes. Every Canadian quarter is legal tender at 25 cents.
The 1999 quarter in context
To mark the coming millennium, the Royal Canadian Mint issued a different quarter for every month of 1999. Each one showed a theme from Canada's past and present and the designs came from a public contest open to Canadians, so ordinary people, not just professional artists, saw their work in circulation. A matching series of twelve followed in 2000, giving 24 millennium quarters in all. The program began in January 1999 and ran to the end of 2000, one new design each month.
Alongside those monthly designs, the regular caribou quarter kept going. The figure given for 1999 is 258,888,000, a huge jump from the 28,106,000 of 1996 and a sign of how much change the economy was using at the turn of the century. Quarters were suddenly something people looked at again, as families checked their change for the latest month and filled cardboard folders. The year as a whole is one of the most varied in the history of the quarter. Many Canadians who had never collected anything started with these coins.
How to recognize it
The regular 1999 quarter has Hahn's caribou with CANADA, 25 CENTS and 1999 on the reverse and Dora de Pédery-Hunt's crowned portrait of the queen, ELIZABETH II D·G·REGINA, on the obverse. The millennium coins share that obverse but each has its own reverse. If your 1999 quarter shows something other than a caribou, it belongs to the monthly series. All of them are pure nickel, 5.07 g and 23.88 mm and attracted to a magnet. There is no mint mark on the circulation coins. Each monthly coin carries its own theme and artwork, so there are thirteen 1999 quarter designs to look for in total.
1999 Canadian Quarter by the numbers
By the numbers, the 1999 Canadian Quarter ranks 142nd lowest of 147 Canadian quarter dates and varieties from 1870 to 2024. The next scarcer is the 2011 Canadian Quarter (213 million); the next more common is the 2009 Canadian Quarter (266.8 million).
For scale, the most common is the 2000 Canadian Quarter with 434.1 million, about 1.7 times as many. The scarcest is the 1889 Canadian Quarter with 66,324, 3903 times fewer than this one.
Compared with the dates around it, the 1999 output was 9.2 times the 1996 figure and 1.7 times fewer than 2000.
Over the 1990s the Mint produced 559.3 million quarters across 7 dates and varieties; the 1999 Canadian Quarter accounts for 46% of that.
What to check on your 1999 Canadian Quarter
- Try a magnet. Nickel (99.9%) is magnetic, so a genuine 1999 coin sticks; a silver one would not.
- Never clean it. Rubbing or polishing leaves fine scratches and an unnatural shine that collectors avoid.
- Look for full luster and no scratches. Modern quarters only interest collectors in uncirculated condition or with a recognized variety.
Both the caribou and the monthly designs were made in huge numbers and are face value coins in circulation. The fun is in completing the set of twelve 1999 designs from change, which many people did at the time. Folders and collector sets for the millennium quarters were widely sold and coins kept in them since new usually show sharper detail than pocket pieces. Keep any you find clean and unscratched if you want a nice set. Coins with spots or scratches are best spent.
Nickel quarters, 1968 to 2000
From 1968 the quarter was pure nickel, 5.07 g and 23.88 mm, a hard metal that wears well and is attracted to a magnet. Machin's portrait of the queen continued until 1989 and Hahn's caribou was back on the reverse. Mintages became enormous, with 133,037,929 in 1969 and 192,360,598 in 1974. The one regular break in the caribou came in 1973, when a Mountie on horseback marked the centennial of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
A few years stand out for low output. Only 10,302,010 quarters are dated 1970 and 13,162,000 are dated 1983, but the real oddity is 1991, with just 459,000. In 1990 Dora de Pédery-Hunt's crowned portrait replaced Machin's; she was the first Canadian artist to design the royal effigy for Canada's coins. The 1992 quarters were a 125th anniversary set with one design for each province and territory, so there is no regular 1992 figure. Neither 1997 nor 1998 has one either.
The century closed with the millennium program: twelve designs for 1999, one for each month, then twelve more for 2000, drawn from ideas sent in by Canadians. Alongside them the caribou kept going with huge runs. For collectors, the coins to set aside are the 1973 large bust variety, the 1991 and to a lesser degree 1970 and 1983. Nearly everything else from these years is a face value coin, though bright uncirculated pieces are pleasant to keep.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 25 cents |
| Issuer | Royal Canadian Mint |
| Year | 1999 |
| Circulation mintage | 258,888,000 |
| Composition | Nickel (99.9%) |
| Weight | 5.05 g |
| Diameter | 23.88 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Reeded |
Frequently asked questions
How many different 1999 Canadian quarters are there?
Twelve millennium designs, one for each month of 1999, plus the regular caribou quarter. Another twelve millennium designs followed in 2000. All of them circulated and all are made of nickel.
Are 1999 millennium quarters worth anything?
Circulated millennium quarters are face value coins, since each design was struck in large numbers. A complete set in uncirculated condition is a pleasant collection to own and carries a small premium.
Mintage figures: Quarter (Canadian coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Canadian Mint figures. How we build these pages.