Before joining Confederation, many of Canada’s provinces were separate British North American colonies, each with their own particular cultural character and even their very own coins—a fact that adds a fascinating diversity to Canada’s coinhistory. Your four-coin set re-visits the 19th-century reverse designs by L.C. Wyon, whose engraved artwork adorned the coins of Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Viewed side-by-side, each reverse paints a picture ofAtlantic Canada in a time long before the Royal Canadian Mint was established; a time before each province joined Confederation: a time before Canada!

A wonderful opportunity to own four pure silver coin designs from pre-Confederation! Order today!

• DIFFERENT SIZES AND WEIGHTS! To add more visual interest to your coin set, your four coins are all different sizes and weights:
• Nova Scotia is 2 oz. of 99.99% pure silver with a diameter of 50 mm!
• Prince Edward Island is 1 oz. of 99.99% pure silverwith a diameter of 40 mm!
• Newfoundland is 1/2 oz. of 99.99% pure silver with a diameter of 34 mm!
• New Brunswick is 1/4 oz. of 99.99% pure silver with a diameter of 27 mm!
• A TRIBUTE SET TO OUR PAST! A magnificent showcase of Canada’s coin history and the colonial coins of Atlantic Canada.
• AN ANTIQUE LOOK! The use of an antique finish adds an appropriately aged, patina-like appearance to these pre-Confederation designs by the renowned British engraver, L.C. Wyon.
• ADAPTING THE PAST TO THE PRESENT! These 19th-century designs havebeen painstakingly re-created and adapted to a larger-sized canvas than the original coins.
• HISTORY SIDE-BY-SIDE! Together as a set, these four coins allow for a close study and comparison of the different designs—even theNova Scotia and New Brunswick cent coins have slight variations that set each one apart!
• INCLUDES SERIALIZED CERTIFICATE!The Royal Canadian Mint certifies all of its collector coin sets. Most come with a serialized certification, meaning each certificate is given a unique number, beginning with 1.
• NO GST/HST!

Enhanced by an antique finish, each of your coin’sreverse is a reproduction of a pre-Confederation circulation coin from one of the four provinces of Atlantic Canada. All four bear reverse designs by Leonard Charles Wyon, and are based on decimal coins authorized by the colonial governments between 1861 and 1871. In addition, each of your coin’s obverse features the effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by Susanna Blunt.

• Nova Scotia one cent:
  Modelled after the 1861 issue, the Nova Scotia one cent features a wreath of roses and mayflowers encircling St Edward’s Crown at the centre, where an ornamental flourish and the date “2018” are engraved.
• Prince Edward Island one cent:
  The Prince Edward Island one cent was the only decimal coin ever struck for the province. Released in 1872, the reverse features an oak tree motif adapted from the provincialgreat seals. The face value “1 CENT” and Latin motto PARVA SUB INGENTI (The small under the protection of the great) are inscribed beneath a tall oak tree representing Great Britain, while three oak saplings symbolize the counties of Prince Edward Island.
• Newfoundland five cent:
  The Newfoundland five cent is set apart by its more ornamental design. Based on an 1880 issue, the reverse features the denomination “5 CENTS” and the date “2018” framed by an arabesque pattern.
• New Brunswick one cent:
  The New Brunswick one cent bears a striking resemblance to the NovaScotia one cent. It, too, features St Edward’s Crown framed by a wreath of roses and mayflowers, but with a few slight variations—including the absence of the rosebud seen on the lower right side of the Nova Scotia cent.

In British North America, the pre-Confederation era was marked by chronic currency shortages and a lack of a uniform standard. Tokens, foreign currency, even privately made coins were used as a supplement to imperial coinage in trade and commercial activities. But in 1857, the Province of Canada eschewed the British sterlingstandard and introduced its own decimal currency system; the Atlantic colonies followed suit and introduced their own decimal coinage between 1858 and 1871.

British currency played a greater role in Nova Scotia’s land and sea-based economy thanperhaps any other British North American province. When it adopted the decimal currency in 1859, the dollar was assigned a value equal to 1/5 of a pound sterling to allow for the continued use of British silver coins, thus requiring just two new denominations: a half-cent and a cent. Both shared the same reverse design, with slight variations between the 1861 and 1861-1864 issues; they remained in circulation until at least 1871, when the Uniform Currency Act extended the Dominion of Canada’s decimal system to Nova Scotia and placed the province's dollar on equal footing with the Canadian dollar.

Prince Edward Island was the last to adopta new decimal currency system. Released in 1872, the bronze cent re-created in this set was the only decimal coin ever struck for Prince Edward Island, which joined Confederation in 1873 but continued to issue this provincial currency until at least 1879. L.C. Wyon (based on a model by G. Hill) designed the reverse based on the provincial great seal. And for reasons unknown, the coin did not include the “H” mint mark of the Heaton Mint, which was contracted to strike the coins.

Adopted in 1863, Newfoundland’s decimal currency system was based on an English gold sovereign worth $4.80, but the Currency Act also allowed Spanish and colonial Spanish dollars to correspond exactly to itsown dollar. Newfoundland’s coin designs were markedly different from its neighbours, with an arabesque design surrounding the engraved face valueand year on the five cent. A unique variation also sets the 1865 Newfoundland five-cent coin apart: it featured the Roman numeral “I” in the date instead of the Arabic “1” seen on subsequent issues.

In contrast to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick saw no need for a half-cent piece or the use of British silver coins when it adopted decimal coinage in 1860. It ordered its own bronze cent, along with five-, 10- and 20-cent silver coins. Issued between 1861 and 1864, the New Brunswick cent held the same value as the Canadian cent, which meant there was no need to recall them after Confederation; thus, it was made legal tender in Canada in 1871 and remained in circulation for many years. It shared a similar reverse as the Nova Scotiacent—with some slight variations that can be seen here on close examination.

Previous historical-themed sets like the 2017Forgotten Designs of 1927 and the Legacy of the Nickel provedto be a hit with collectors—don’t miss out on this one!