One-year provincial decimal type
Province of Canada Twenty Cents
The 1858 twenty-cent circulation coin is a one-year Province of Canada type struck by the Royal Mint before Confederation. Its circulation specifications and reported mintage are kept separate from the differently catalogued museum pattern object.
Scope is limited to the verified type or program level. Issue mintages, prices, varieties, and survival estimates are not inferred from this summary.
Major twenty cents types
Know the boundary before the date
Begin with the 20 CENTS and 1858 within crowned maple boughs reverse, then confirm the Victoria portrait with laurel wreath obverse. Compare date, portrait, denomination, reeded edge, dimensions, weight, and metal response together. Wear, cleaning, plating disturbance, or environmental colour is not, by itself, evidence of a new type or variety.
- Primary identifiers — Reverse: 20 CENTS and 1858 within crowned maple boughs. Obverse: Victoria portrait with laurel wreath.
- Authority and dates — Province of Canada; recorded range 1858.
- Evidence boundary — Unknown specifications remain unknown; unverified varieties, mintages, and prices stay outside the public catalog.
The historical scope of Province of Canada Twenty Cents
The cited evidence records Province of Canada as the issuing authority and 1858 as this type or program boundary. It belongs to the Twenty cents branch and is classified by authority, principal design, and documented physical generations. A narrower subtype should be added only when measurements, composition, or design evidence supports the split.
The catalog places this record in the Twenty cents branch, records its material scope as 92.5% silver, 7.5% copper, and records its finish as circulation. Those fields are supported by the sources listed below; missing issue-level transitions are not filled by inference.
- 1857 · Decimal authorization — The Province of Canada authorized a decimal currency framework.
- 1858 · Royal Mint production — The one-year twenty-cent circulation issue was struck in London.
- 1867 · Confederation — The provincial denomination did not continue as a federal issue.
- 1870 · Quarter succeeds it — The new federal quarter replaced the twenty-cent framework.
Design and identification
Begin with the 20 CENTS and 1858 within crowned maple boughs reverse, then confirm the Victoria portrait with laurel wreath obverse. Compare date, portrait, denomination, reeded edge, dimensions, weight, and metal response together. Wear, cleaning, plating disturbance, or environmental colour is not, by itself, evidence of a new type or variety.
- Province of Canada Twenty Cents · 1858 · Leonard Charles Wyon — Victoria portrait with a crowned maple wreath around the denomination and date.
Finish by checking the edge (reeded), composition (92.5% silver, 7.5% copper), and any recorded dimensions or weight; colour or wear alone is not enough for attribution.
Cited annual production
The 730,392 figure is reported by the cited secondary circulation-mintage source, which cautions that quantities before 1911 are often estimates. It is not an official Royal Canadian Mint annual-table row.
Displayed-row sum: 730,392 · 1 cited annual row
Three anchors that do not depend on price
- Decimal authorization — The Province of Canada authorized a decimal currency framework.
- Royal Mint production — The one-year twenty-cent circulation issue was struck in London.
- Confederation — The provincial denomination did not continue as a federal issue.
- Quarter succeeds it — The new federal quarter replaced the twenty-cent framework.
Specifications within this type
1858 · Round
- Composition
- 92.5% silver, 7.5% copper
- Weight
- 4.65 g
- Diameter
- 23.3 mm
- Thickness
- Not stated
Cited annual production record
The 730,392 figure is reported by the cited secondary circulation-mintage source, which cautions that quantities before 1911 are often estimates. It is not an official Royal Canadian Mint annual-table row.
| Year | Design context | Technical standard | Mintage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1858 | Province of Canada twenty cents | 23.3 mm · 4.65 g | 730,392 |
Collecting paths and checklist
A useful first set represents the design and technical boundaries documented across 1858; portrait, composition, or program generations can follow when their evidence is secure. Issue mintages, rarity labels, variety names, prices, and survivor estimates require separate verification and are not inferred from this type summary.
- One-coin type study — Choose one representative that clearly shows the principal obverse and reverse, then learn the type boundary.
- Design and technical generations — Add a generation only when sources confirm a change in composition, shape, size, edge, or principal design.
- Source-backed date study — Expand into dates or varieties only after issue identity, specifications, and production evidence are verified field by field.
Collector checklist
- Do not clean the coin; cleaning changes surfaces and can obscure evidence.
- Compare date, portrait, design, edge, weight, diameter, and metal response together.
- Have consequential or high-value attributions reviewed by an appropriate specialist or certification service.
- Catalog information is research context, not an appraisal, offer, or investment guarantee.
Data scope
This page publishes reviewed denomination- and major-type evidence. The 730,392 quantity is reported with a pre-1911 estimate warning, zero is never inferred, and prices or survivor estimates are not derived from production.
Sources
- A History of the Canadian DollarBank of Canada
Decimal adoption, 1858 coinage, 1870 Dominion coinage, provincial issues, Newfoundland, and mint history.
- Canada, Victoria, 20 Cents, 1858Bank of Canada Museum
Identity, date, authority, mint, and the separate 4.62 g, 23 mm, plain-edge specifications of a museum object explicitly catalogued as a pattern; these measurements are not assigned to the circulation type.
- 20 cents: circulating Canadian coin mintagesCoins and Canada
The reported 730,392 circulation mintage for 1858 and the warning that pre-1911 quantities are often estimates; the linked issue record supports the sterling-silver, 4.65 g, 23.3 mm, reeded-edge circulation standard.
- Transactions of the Canadian Numismatic Research Society, New Series, Vol. 4Canadian Numismatic Research Society
Specialist context for the 1858–1859 Province of Canada decimal introduction.