Newfoundland fifty cents

The Newfoundland fifty cent piece was the last denomination to be added to the Victorian coinage. Its first year of issue was 1870. The laureate portrait is stylistically unlike anything used for the rest of British North America. The denomination became very popular and assumed importance after the failure of the Commercial and Union Banks of Newfoundland during the financial crisis of 1894.[1]

Type set of the Newfoundland 50-cent coin
Victoria 50 Cents (1882)
Edward VII 50 Cents (1908)
George V 50 Cents (1917)

Laureated portrait, 1870-1900

Specifications

Designer and Engraver Composition Weight Diameter Edge
Leonard Charles Wyon .925 silver, .075 copper 11.78 grams 29.85 mm Reeded

Mintages

Date and Mint Mark Mintage
1870 50,000
1872H 48,000
1873 37,675
1874 80,000
1876H 28,000
1880 24,000
1881 50,000
1882H 100,000
1885 40,000
1888 20,000
1894 40,000
1896 60,000
1898 79,607
1899 150,000
1900 150,000

The 1896 has two varieties: with a Large W or Small W in 'Newfoundland' on the obverse. The 1898 has a couple of varieties: Obverse 1 with a Large W and Obverse 2 with a Small W. It is debated if there is an Obverse 1 with a Small W. The 1899 has two varieties: a Wide 99 or a Narrow 99. Sometimes only one of the 9's may be noticeably smaller than the other numbers.

Edward VII, 1904-1909

Specifications

Designer (Obverse) Designer (Reverse) Composition Weight Diameter Edge
George William de Saulles W.H.J. Blakemore .925 silver, .075 copper 11.78 grams 29.85 mm Reeded

Mintages

Date and Mint Mark Mintage
1904H 140,000
1907 100,000
1908 160,000
1909 200,000

George V, 1911-1919

Specifications

Designer Composition Weight (1911) Weight (1917–1919) Diameter (1911) Diameter (1917–1919) Edge
Sir Edgar Bertram MacKennal .925 silver, .075 copper 11.78 grams 11.66 grams 29.85 mm 29.72 mm Reeded

Mintages

Date and Mint Mark Mintage
1911 200,000
1917C 375,560
1918C 294,824
1919C 306,267

References
  1. Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Coins, p. 51, W.K. Cross, 60th Edition, 2006
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