By Jesse Robitaille
This column originally appeared in Canadian Coin News (Vol. 59 #23) in February 2022.
Realizations, which include buyer’s premium, are listed in Canadian dollars unless noted.
With the COVID-19 pandemic driving increased interest in Canadian numismatics, some of the country’s rare coins brought record prices in 2021.
Last year’s top-earning Canadian coin – the iconic 1936 one-cent “dot” specimen – brought $446,600 in a private sale last November. First offered during the Prominence Sale V hosted by the Canadian Numismatic Company (TCNC), the coin was purchased a day later in a post-auction purchase, according to auctioneer Marc Verret.
The coin’s provenance includes celebrated 20th-century numismatist John J. Pittman, of Rochester, N.Y. From 1961 until his 1996 death, Pittman held all three publicly available dot cents—two specimen strikes plus a third example in Mint-State (MS) condition.
Pittman, whose iconic collection realized more than $30 million US during three posthumous sales in the late 1990s, reportedly paid just $400 US for his first dot cent. He acquired it in 1951 as part of that year's complete six-piece dot specimen set, which featured all three dot coins – the one-, 10- and 25-cent pieces – alongside the other 1936 circulation coins.
Three years later, Pittman acquired his second complete 1936 dot specimen set from the widow of Tom Roberts, a former Royal Canadian Mint employee. He reportedly paid just $250 US for this set, which held the same dot cent offered by TCNC last November.
Pittman displayed the Roberts set at the 1966 convention of what was then known as the Canadian Numismatic Association (now the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association) in Winnipeg. During the show, security guards caught would-be thieves attempting to open the set’s display case before they were apprehended.
“Never again will I display these items,” Pittman is quoted as saying in the February 2007 North York Coin Club Bulletin. “This is the second attempt made against me, and common sense dictates I retire before further serious damage is done to ruin any portion of my numerous accumulations.”
On Aug. 6, 1999, during the final Pittman Collection sale, the set crossed the block in its uncertified state for $345,000 US.
Following the sale, the set’s dot cent received its first certification from Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS), which graded it as Specimen-66 and added its “Red” designation. The newly certified dot cent then sold as a single lot for $230,000 US during the 2003 sale of the Sid & Alicia Belzberg Collection.
By 2010, the coin sold again, this time as part of the Canadiana Collection for $402,000 US. It was acquired by Calgary collector George Cook, who died in 2018 before his collection was auctioned south of the border a year later.
Despite concerns about several key coins being cleaned, the main portion of the Cook Collection brought more than $3.2 million US across 439 lots, including the Pittman dot cent from the Roberts set.
Held by Cook for nine years, the dot cent was re-certified before its 2019 sale as PCGS Specimen-65 with a “Red-Brown” designation. The coin’s downgrading was “likely the result of being dipped to remove a fine layer of lacquer,” according to Heritage auctioneers. It brought $312,000 US (about $415,000 Cdn.) as part of the Cook Collection.
Last November’s $446,600 selling price set a new record for 1936 dot cents. It represented a 7.5 per cent price increase compared to that example's previous sale in 2019, when it was the second highest-earning Canadian coin sold at auction.
(In 2019, the dot cent fell behind the 1911 silver dollar jointly acquired from the Cook Collection by dealers Sandy Campbell, of Nova Scotia, and Ian Laing, of Winnipeg, for $735,000.)
Tied as the finest-graded example, the only other publicly available 1936 dot specimen also sold in 2019 as part of the Cornerstone Collection.
The fixed-price Cornerstone catalogue, which comprised more than 250 rare specimens, topped $5 million (“Cornerstone Collection 'virtually all sold,’” CCN Vol. 58 #21).
The Cornerstone dot cent sold as part of a 1936 specimen set for $1.5 million. In addition to the dot cent, the set included one of only three publicly available 10-cent “dot” coins plus five-, 25-, 50-cent and $1 specimen issues.
Reportedly Pittman’s favourite coin, the Cornerstone example served as the opening lot of the first Pittman Collection sale on Oct. 21, 1997, a year after his death. It brought $121,000 US.
Pittman’s third dot cent – the MS example, not one of the two specimens – sold in 1999 alongside the first example he owned. It brought $115,000 US.
In 1964, when this coin was in Pittman’s possession, it was reportedly stolen from his home before being returned in an unmarked envelope several weeks later. Mystery still abounds regarding the coin's theft and its eventual return.
Since 2016, a fourth example – the third specimen example – has been institutionally held in a full set by the Bank of Canada Museum's National Currency Collection. Its provenance dates to the early 1940s, when Mint employee Maurice LaFortune purchased the set.
It includes all three dot coins plus that year’s five-cent, 50-cent and $1 issues, the latter two of which were struck in specimen quality. It’s the only intact set with all three dot coins, according to the museum.
10-CENT ‘DOT'
SPECIMEN COIN
Carrying on the dot theme, a 10-cent specimen was the year's second highest-earning Canadian coin.
Also offered during TCNC’s Prominence Sale V, the coin brought $116,000 in Specimen-63-plus from PCGS. It's one of only six known examples, three of which are in the National Currency Collection.
The example sold in November previously brought $66,000 US during the 2019 Cook sale. Earlier, in 2006, it sold for $115,000 US as part of the Dominion Collection.
Like the dot cent, its 10-cent counterpart was first owned by LaFortune, the former Mint employee. He sold it to a private collector in 2000, after which time it came to the fore of the numismatic community.
The 1936 dot coins stem from King Edward VIII’s sudden abdication, forcing his brother George VI to ascend the throne after just a 10-month reign. The unexpected change caused effigial issues at the Mint, which ordered new dies with the proper monarch’s effigy to use on the country’s 1937-dated issues. To meet the interim demand, the Mint produced a short run of 1936 coins with the obverse portrait of Edward's predecessor George V. A small raised dot was added near the bottom of the coin's reverse design to indicate they were struck in 1937 despite their 1936 year-date. The vast majority of the dot coins were reportedly returned to the Mint for melting once the new dies arrived.
No one- or 10-cent dot coins officially entered circulation; only the 25-cent dot coin circulated among Canadians. While the one- and 10-cent dot coins are exceedingly rare with just nine known examples between them, the 25-cent dot coins are considered a semi-key-date issue with a mintage of 153,322 pieces.
ROUNDING OUT
THE TOP FIVE
The third top-earning Canadian coin of 2021 technically came from beyond the country's border when it was issued in 1874.
The 1874 Newfoundland half-dollar specimen, 80,000 of which were minted by what was then a British dominion, sold for $60,000 US (about $76,200 Cdn.) through Heritage Auctions. Certified as Specimen-67 by PCGS, which added a “Cameo” designation, the coin was offered during last January’s New York International Numismatic Convention.
It previously sold for $75,000 as part of the Cornerstone Collection, and earlier, it belonged to the Belzberg Collection, through which it brought $32,200 US in 2003. Along with another high-grade example that surfaced in Britain in the 1990s, it’s considered among the finest known 1874 half dollars.
One of about 75 examples known as the “King of Canadian Coins” stood as the fourth highest-earning Canadian issue in 2021. Graded as Very Good-8 by International Coin Certification Service, the 1921-dated 50-cent coin brought $55,037.50 at last June's Prominence Sale IV.
Like the dot coins, the 1921 half-dollar was issued under special circumstances. That year, with the denomination’s demand low, the entire mintage of more than 200,000 50-cent coins was stored at the Mint, where it remained for eight years.
By 1929, the need for a half-dollar denomination grew enough to consider a revival.
Mint Master John Campbell, however, worried the public would suspect the 1921-dated issues were counterfeit if they were dispersed in such a large quantity eight years later. The stockpiled coins were subsequently melted and re-coined into new 1929-dated 50-cent pieces; however, about 75 examples of the 1921-dated coins survived the melting pot through the public sale of specimen sets and circulation strikes.
Rounding out the top five coins of 2021 is a 1908-C sovereign in PCGS Specimen-66. It brought $32,400 US (about $39,850 Cdn.) in a Heritage Auctions sale last May.
The 1908 issue was the first gold coin and the first of 10 sovereigns struck at what was then known as the Ottawa Mint (now the Royal Canadian Mint). Most years until 1919 (except for 1912 and 1915), the Ottawa Mint produced sovereigns, whose “C” mintmark – located above the year-date as part of the central reverse design – refers to Canada. Obligated to strike sovereigns as a branch of the British Royal Mint, the Ottawa Mint struck only 636 specimens – the series’ lowest amount – in 1908 before expanding the mintage the following year.
The production of circulation sovereigns began in 1909, when 16,273 pieces were minted.
The obverses of the 1908-10 issues feature King Edward VII, who reigned from 1901 until his 1910 death, as designed by British medallist George de Saulles. The remaining issues feature the next monarch George V, who reigned until his 1936 death, as designed by Australian sculptor and medallist E.B. Mackennal.
Each of the coins, which weigh 7.99 grams with 91.7 per cent gold and 8.3 per cent copper, feature Italian engraver and medallist Benedetto Pistrucci’s “Saint George and the Dragon” design on the reverse.
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