Collectors Corner^SM: The Collectibles Marketplace

The Aurora Borealis dance in the sky as vertically oriented lines over the placid lakeside scene on the Canadian Voyageur Dollar, issued from 1935 through 1987. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView. Click image to enlarge.

I remember the first time I saw a traditional, pre-”Loonie” Canadian Dollar when I was a kid. Two things I loved about it were the lakeside scene with the spruce trees, and the other was the sight of the Aurora Borealis (often known as the “Northern Lights”) in the background high above in the sky.

Being born and raised in Florida, I hadn’t had many chances to see the Aurora Borealis, which are colorful lights seen high in the sky near the polar regions and caused by solar particles interacting with natural gasses in Earth’s magnetic field; a similar phenomenon is known as the Aurora Australis (or “Southern Lights”) in the Southern Hemisphere. The Northern Lights are frequently seen over the skies of Canada, and so it was fitting that they appear on the coinage of a nation famous for numismatically showcasing its natural treasures.

The first Canadian Dollar featuring the beloved Voyageur design, which incorporates the Northern Lights, was issued in 1935. It was seen during most years of issue for the Canadian Dollar until 1987, with a redesigned “golden” dollar coin bearing a Canadian loon and dubbed a “Loonie” appearing that year.

Over the course of more than half a century, the Voyageur Dollar saw many changes. The most notable of these was a debasement of the coin’s metallic composition from 80% silver to nearly pure nickel in 1968, the same year the denomination was also reduced in diameter from 36 millimeters to 32.15 millimeters.

The Canadian Silver Dollars of 1935 through 1967 are easily among the most popular world coins among American collectors, and they see a huge contingent of collectors on the PCGS Set Registry. The nickel-based Canadian Dollars are also widely collected, with some collectors choosing to build sets inclusive of both the silver and nickel Canadian Dollars.