Skip to content
  • FR
FR
  • About us
    Building, illuminated glass towers on either side of an old, square, stone building.

    About us

    We're here to help you understand what the Bank of Canada does and how it matters to you.

    About the Bank of Canada

    Find out what the Bank does, who runs the Bank and how it is separate from the political process.

    Connect with us

    We’d love to hear from you! Contact us by email, phone or mail—or join us on social media.

  • Visit

    Visit

    • Plan your visit
    • Accessibility and special needs
    • Code of conduct
    • COVID-19 protocols

    Sensory Sundays

    We’re turning down the lights and the volume for our sensory-sensitive visitors—explore the Museum using more than eyes and ears.

    Connect with us

    We’d love to hear from you! Contact us by email, phone or mail—or join us on social media.

  • Explore

    Exhibitions

    • Permanent exhibition
    • Special exhibitions
    • Travelling exhibitions
    • Past exhibitions

    Blog

    Collection

    • About the Collection
    • Collection Services
    • Canadian Bank Notes Series
    • Search the Collection

    New acquisitions—2024 edition

    Bank of Canada Museum’s acquisitions in 2024 highlight the relationships that shape the National Currency Collection.

  • Learn

    Learn

    • Activities and games
    • Education blog
    • External resources
    • Lesson plans
    • School programs
    • Video discussion guides
    • Upcoming webinars

    Entrepreneurship: Kids edition

    Learn from the experiences of successful young entrepreneurs, then create your own business model and pitch your business.

    You are the economy

    A set of six lessons to explore economics with your students.

  • Home
  • The Museum Blog

New Acquisitions

By: Paul S. Berry


April 18, 2018
Share this page on Facebook
Share this page on Facebook
Share this page on X
Share this page on X
Share this page on LinkedIn
Share this page on LinkedIn
Share this page on Google Classroom Created with Sketch.
Share this page on Google Classroom
Share this page by email
Share this page by email

The 1936 Dot Set

If you watch The Crown, a Netflix series about the life of Queen Elizabeth II, you will remember that her uncle, King Edward VIII, fell in love with American divorcée Wallis Simpson and, in December 1936, abdicated rather than give her up. Edward’s brother—and Elizabeth’s father—Albert subsequently became King George VI.

The abdication of Edward VIII had implications for the Royal family and the succession, but did you know that it also affected Canada? It wasn’t merely a divisive topic over the dinner table, pitting Edward’s supporters against those who thought it “just wasn’t proper.” It had a big effect on our money.

engraving of Prince Edward

Prince Edward, first son of King George V and Queen Mary, from Canada’s 1935 $5 bill.

engraving of King George VI

Prince Albert, second son of King George V and Queen Mary, from Canada’s 1935 $50 bill.

$1 bill with Edward VIII

Bank notes were already in advanced stages of design before King Edward VIII abdicated. This photograph of a model for the new notes was made December 1, after official approval of the portrait was received in mid-November.

Early in 1937, Canada experienced a shortage of 1-, 10- and 25-cent coins. Normally, the Mint would have filled the void using the new dies for 1937, but their production had been delayed owing to Edward VIII’s abdication. To meet the emergency, the Mint struck coins using dies from 1936. A small impression was added to the reverse dies, creating a raised dot on coins struck from those tools that distinguished them from the 1936 coins.

Canadian 1936 dot penny

The last year of this design was to be1936. Introduced in 1920, it was replaced in 1937 by the familiar maple leaf cent, whose production ceased in 2012.

penny close up

The dot on the 1-cent piece appears to be smaller than that on the 10- and 25-cent coins.


The 1936 dot coinage has drawn much attention from domestic and foreign collectors of Canadian coins since knowledge of its existence was made public about 1938–39. As coin collecting became a popular hobby in postwar Canada, clubs were formed across the country and collectors eagerly searched their change, looking to assemble complete date sets of Canadian coins. The dot coinage was recognized as rare, and the 1-cent coin in particular became something of a Holy Grail for collectors—always sought but never found. Coin dealers placed ads offering to purchase the coins. Even the producers of the new Whitman storage folders, with their convenient die-cut holes into which young and old alike could press their new-found treasures, left spaces for these rare pieces in their products.

In April 2016, Robert Lafortune graciously donated a 1936 coin set, including the three dot pieces, to the National Currency Collection. The set had been in the possession of his family since the early 1940s when his father, Maurice Lafortune, purchased the set from the Mint, his employer.

red leather case

Rather than making new cases, the Mint repurposed holders from 1908 by adding a new label to the outside.

open coin case

The insert was also changed by adding room for the silver dollar, which was not in use in 1908.


To say the set is rare is an understatement. This is the only intact set known to exist. Two other sets were sold to prominent American collector and businessman John J. Pittman in 1951 and 1954. One set was stolen from his home in April 1964 and subsequently dispersed; the second set was sold piecemeal in 1997 when Pittman’s collection was auctioned. The 1-cent and 10-cent dot pieces are also two of Canada’s rarest coins. Despite Mint Master Walter Clifton Ronson’s 1952 confirmation that 678,823 1-cent and 191,237 10-cent pieces had been placed into circulation, only three 1-cent pieces and five 10-cent pieces are known to exist beyond those in the present set. This discrepancy is a mystery that has never been adequately explained.

Canadian 1936 dot dime

All coins in the set except for the 5-cent piece are specimens, coins of the highest quality specially struck for presentation purposes.

We want to hear from you! Do you have an idea for a blog post you’d like to see?
Content type(s): Blog posts

Subscribe to The Museum Blog
The Museum Blog

December 15, 2014

New Acquisitions

By: Raewyn Passmore


The recent additions to the National Currency Collection described below are from very different parts of the world and are between 1500 and 2500 years old.
Content type(s): Blog posts
November 28, 2014

The Big Nickel

By: Paul S. Berry


The commemorative 1951 5 cent piece was issued to mark the 200th anniversary of the naming of nickel and its isolation as an element. Recently, I had the great pleasure to participate in the Big Nickel anniversary festivities and give a talk about the design competition for the 1951 5 cent coin.
Content type(s): Blog posts
November 6, 2014

The Adventure of Exhibit Planning VI

By: Graham Iddon


This is not the time for ‘nay sayers’. Basically, we planned a luxury car knowing that when all was said and done, it was going to be a very nice family sedan (maybe with the big engine?).
Content type(s): Blog posts
September 29, 2014

The Adventure of Exhibit Planning V

By: Graham Iddon


Now the writer takes a deep breath and attempts to take a subject like the ‘representation of 75 years of national identity as depicted on stamps and bank notes’ from 50 pages of research and squash it into 65 words.
Content type(s): Blog posts
August 6, 2014

The Senior Deputy Governor’s Signature

By: Graham Iddon


Steven S. Poloz & Carolyn Wilkins
For much of their history, Canadian bank notes have represented a promise, a guarantee that they could be redeemed for “specie” (gold and silver coins) at their parent institution.
Content type(s): Blog posts
July 28, 2014

Becoming a Collector V

By: Graham Iddon


Visual glossary of design and security details of Canadian Bank Note: 2004, $20 face
Suppose you walk into a bar frequented by currency collectors and in an attempt to join in you refer to a ‘planchette’ as a ‘rosette’ (beer mugs hit the tables and the pianist stops playing). This could be pretty humiliating and you’ll probably never be able to go to that bar again, at least not on numismatic night.
Content type(s): Blog posts
July 21, 2014

Becoming a Collector IV

By: Graham Iddon


Visual glossary of design details of Canadian coins
Now that you have a grasp of preservation techniques for coins, you might want to familiarize yourself with the finer points of their anatomy. It is all part of your numismatic education and besides, you need to be informed and sound informed when you are buying coins at flea markets or coin fairs.
Content type(s): Blog posts
July 7, 2014

Museum Reconstruction - Part 3

By: Graham Iddon


Bank of canada - Night
Though naturally we are aware that the former Museum space is being gutted, the reality of seeing it empty is still pretty strange for most of us here. In the last blog of this series we showed you the empty cafeteria space that will become the new Museum, as well as some images of the old Museum as it was at the time: stuffed with odds and ends of exhibit cases, the occasional display still on the walls.
Content type(s): Blog posts
June 23, 2014

CENTimental Journey

By: Graham Iddon


With all the blogging we’ve been doing for Voices from the Engraver, you’d think we had nothing else on our exhibition plate. We do, actually, and it’s called CENTimental Journey. This temporary exhibition, hosted at the Canadian Museum of History, walks you through more than 150 years of the Canadian 1 cent piece.
Content type(s): Blog posts
June 16, 2014

Museum Reconstruction - Part 2

By: Graham Iddon


We are coming up on a year since we closed the doors on the physical museum. During that year, we’ve worked very hard to make sure everybody knows that we are still a functioning museum and one that will be opening its doors again in a few years on a beautiful new space, with an expanded mission and mandate.
Content type(s): Blog posts
  • « Previous
  • 1
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • Next »
Go To Page

30 Bank Street
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0G9, CANADA
613‑782‑8914

  • Things to do

  • Plan your visit
  • Find educational resources
  • Search the Collection
  • Connect with us
  • Things to see

  • Canadian bank notes
  • Exhibitions
  • Blog
  • Videos
  • Things to know

  • Accessibility and special needs
  • Careers
  • Code of conduct
  • COVID-19 protocols
  • Privacy
  • Social media
●●
Bank of Canada Museum

Visit the Bank of Canada web site ›

We use cookies to help us keep improving this website.

Accept and continue