Dime (Canadian coin)

Dime (Canada)
Value:	0.10 CAD
Mass:	1.75 g
Diameter:	18.03 mm
Thickness:	1.22 mm
Edge:	milled
Composition:	92% steel, 5.5% Cu, 2.5% Ni plating
Years of Minting:	2003–present
Catalog Number:	-
Obverse
Design:	Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada
Designer:	Susanna Blunt
Design Date:	2003
Reverse
Design:	Bluenose schooner
Designer:	Emmanuel Hahn
Design Date:	1937

In Canada a dime is a coin worth ten cents. It is the smallest (in physical size) of the Canadian coins. According to the Royal Canadian Mint, the official national term of the coin is the 10 cent coin, but in practice the term dime is universal. It is nearly identical in size to the American dime, but unlike its counterpart, the Canadian dime is magnetic due to a distinct metal composition: from 1968-99 it was composed entirely of nickel, and since 2000 it has had a high steel content. Currently the dime has, as with all Canadian coins, a portrait of Her Majesty the Queen on the obverse. The reverse contains a representation of the Bluenose, a famous Canadian schooner. The artist, Emmanuel Hahn, used 3 ships including the Bluenose as his models, so the ship design is actually a composite. The word "dime" comes from the French word "dîme", meaning "tithe" or "tenth part," from the Latin decima [pars].

History of Composition

Special editions

• 1967: Canadian centennial; all coins had unique reverses, 10 cent had a mackerel
• 2001: A special edition 10-cent coin was released to honour volunteers; notable for a reconfigured obverse which did not include the phrase D. G. Regina

First Strikes

References

• Cross, W.K. [2005]. Canadian Coins, 59th edition, Toronto: The Charlton Press, 501. ISBN 0-88968-288-7.