• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Week #472 - Happy Friday!

20 posts in this topic

  • Member

QUESTION:

 

Why did Canada give its five-cent piece a 12-sided border in 1942?

 

Our first place winner will receive a copy of A Guide Book of Flying Eagle and Indian Head Cents by Richard Snow.

 

There will also be a runner up prize given to a randomly selected player with the correct answer.

 

REMINDER: The Numisma-Quest ends on Saturday at midnight EST. Entries after that time will not be valid. See the Trivia info post for more details.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To distinguish it from the 1 cent coin. The problem was that the the 5 cent coin had changed color to be same as 1 cent coin and they figured people would confuse the coins. The 5 cent coin changed color because the metal content change, short supply of nickel due to WW2.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This first Canadian, nonstandard, circulated coin was 12-sided and had its regular denticles (projection points) replaced by the good-luck war effort message, "We win when we work willingly", in Morse code around its rim. This phrase is a very clear example of an literary device known as alliteration, a special case of consonance, where a consonant sound is repeated at the beginning of a number of words that follow each other immediately, or very closely. Surprisingly, few Canadians actually realized that this dot and dash pattern had any special significance, merely believing it to be an interesting design feature.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Because the composition of the 5 cent coin changed to a brass alloy called "tombac" which made it similar to the one cent coin. Therefore, the design was changed to 12-sided so that they could be easily differentiated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The designers changed the design from round to having 12 sides simply so that it wouldnt be confused as easy with the 1 cent coin since they looked simular in color. Both the 1 cent and the 5 cent from a distance would look simular except the 5c had the new 12 side design. Which later had shown to be not enough of a difference between the two coins, so they changed the coin again, this time removing the beaver and put a V on it to stand for Victory.

 

-Chris#2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

dang, 29th viewer

 

In 1942 the nickel was made 12 sided due to the metal composition change and

to help distinguish the dark-coloured tombac coins from the cent. Tombac was removed from the nickel in 1944, but the coins remained twelve-sided until 1963.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was it to help identify the coin after they had to change the metal to Tombac? If it was still round it would have looked at lot like the cent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since the coin was minted in the yellow-ish Tombac alloy, the RCM made it a 12-sided coin to distinguish it from the one-cent coin.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Because it would have been inappropriate to put Monticello on the reverse with a large mintmark above the dome.

 

Chris :hi:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The needs of World War II meant that nickel could not be used for the 5-cent piece. The British used "tombac", a mixture of 0.88 copper and 0.12 zinc, in 1937 for the three pence piece. Canada adopted the metal for the 5-cent piece in 1942 and 1943. The resulting brown coins, similar in color to the cent, was made 12-sided to help differentiate them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The needs of World War II meant that nickel could not be used for the 5-cent piece. The British used "tombac", a mixture of 0.88 copper and 0.12 zinc, in 1937 for the three pence piece. Canada adopted the metal for the 5-cent piece in 1942 and 1943. The resulting brown coins, similar in color to the cent, was made 12-sided to help differentiate them.

 

Then in 1963 they resumed round coins to reduce costs of the minting machinery.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrator

QUESTION:

 

Why did Canada give its five-cent piece a 12-sided border in 1942?

 

ANSWER:

 

To distinguish coins of the new composition from cents.

 

Our first place winner jamorse99 will receive a copy of A Guide Book of Flying Eagle and Indian Head Cents by Richard Snow. :banana:

 

Our runner up, bugmann1974 has won a single coin display box. ^^

 

Thank you for playing and please stop by this Friday for the PMG Numisma-Quest question!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites