2017 Dance of the Spirits Toonie
The 2017 Dance of the Spirits Toonie is a circulating toonie with 10 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2017
- Circulation mintage
- 10,000,000
- Value band
- Face value
- Designer
- Timothy Hsia
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 2017 Dance of the Spirits Toonie worth?
10 million were made, so the 2017 Dance of the Spirits Toonie is easy to find. A circulated one is worth face value; collectors pay a little more only for uncirculated coins.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition
- Colored versions from collector packs
- Specimen or proof finish from a Mint set
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 2017 Dance of the Spirits Toonie rare?
- No. 10 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2017 Dance of the Spirits Toonie coins were made?
- 10,000,000 were struck for circulation.
- Who designed the 2017 Dance of the Spirits Toonie?
- The design is credited to Timothy Hsia.
- What is the 2017 Dance of the Spirits Toonie made of?
- Bimetallic multi-ply plated steel. It weighs 6.92 g and measures 28 mm.
- Is the 2017 Dance of the Spirits Toonie still legal tender?
- Yes. Every toonie, commemoratives included, is legal tender in Canada.
Why the 2017 Dance of the Spirits Toonie was made
Canada celebrated 150 years since Confederation in 2017 and the Royal Canadian Mint built that year's circulating coins around a national design contest open to the public. Canadians sent in ideas on themes about what makes the country special and the winning designs went onto the five-cent, ten-cent, quarter, loonie and toonie, all dated 2017. The toonie's theme was 'Our Wonders' and the winning entry, Dance of the Spirits by Timothy Hsia, turned to one of the great natural sights of the North.
The coin made headlines for a technical first. Some of the toonies were colored and printed so that the aurora glows in the dark, which the Mint promoted as a world first for a circulation coin. Those colored coins were released into everyday change alongside the plain version, so people really did find glowing toonies in their pockets. The Mint's figure of 10,000,000 covers both kinds together, colored and regular, with no separate split in the data behind this page. Combined with the other Canada 150 coins, it made 2017 one of the most talked about years for Canadian change in a long time.
How to recognize it
Timothy Hsia's design shows a pair of paddlers in a canoe, tiny figures beneath a huge night sky filled with the moving curtains of the aurora borealis. The scale is the point: people dwarfed by the sky above them. On the colored version the aurora is printed in color and that part of the design glows in the dark after being exposed to light. The regular version shows the same scene in plain metal with no glow. Either way, look for the canoe at the bottom of the core and the swirling sky above it. Queen Elizabeth II in Susanna Blunt's portrait is on the obverse.
2017 Dance of the Spirits Toonie by the numbers
Measured by how many were made, the 2017 Dance of the Spirits Toonie ranks 11th lowest of 13 circulating toonies with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2008 Quebec City 400th Toonie (6.01 million); the next more common is the 1999 Nunavut Toonie (25.1 million).
For scale, the most common is the 2000 Path of Knowledge Toonie with 29.9 million, about 3 times as many. The scarcest is the 2022 Queen Elizabeth II Toonie with 4.31 million, 2.3 times fewer than this one.
2017 brought 1 other circulating toonie design: the Vimy Ridge (5.13 million). The 2017 Dance of the Spirits Toonie was the most plentiful of the year.
What to check on your 2017 Dance of the Spirits Toonie
- Confirm the design: the Dance of the Spirits reverse dated 2017, in a silver-colored ring with a gold-colored center.
- Check whether it has added color. Colored toonies came from collector products or special circulation releases; keep them out of rough handling.
- Look at the join between ring and core. It should be tight and even; a loose or damaged core is damage, not a rarity.
- Specimen and proof toonies from Mint sets have satin or mirror finishes that circulation coins never have.
With 10,000,000 struck in total, colored and regular combined, this is not a scarce coin. Plain circulated examples are face value. The colored glow coins attract more interest, especially when the color is complete and unscratched. A clean one can carry a small premium. Color applied to the surface of a coin wears with handling, so coins straight from circulation often show rubbed patches on the sky. To test the glow, hold the coin under a bright light for a minute, then look at it in the dark. A coin that does not glow is the regular version, not a faded colored one.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 2 dollars |
| Issuer | Royal Canadian Mint |
| Year | 2017 |
| Circulation mintage | 10,000,000 |
| Composition | Bimetallic multi-ply plated steel |
| Weight | 6.92 g |
| Diameter | 28 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Intermittent milling |
| Designer | Timothy Hsia |
Other 2017 toonies
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 Vimy Ridge Toonie | 5,130,000 | Face value |
Frequently asked questions
Does the 2017 toonie glow in the dark?
The colored version of the Dance of the Spirits toonie does. Its aurora borealis was printed with a glow-in-the-dark finish and those coins went into circulation. The regular uncolored version of the same design does not glow.
How many Dance of the Spirits toonies were made?
The Mint's figure is 10,000,000, which covers the colored glow coins and the regular coins together. Both versions went into circulation for Canada's 150th anniversary, so they remain easy to find in change.
Mintage figures: Toonie (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Canadian Mint figures. How we build these pages.