The rarest of the mint mark Sovereigns with a C just above the date, indicating that it was struck in Ottawa.

The history of the Royal Canadian Mint is a fascinating tale. For the first 50 years, Canada’s coinage was actually struck at The Royal Mint in London, with Canadian cents first being struck in the UK as far back as 1858!

With gold being discovered in the Yukon in 1900 and as Canada moved from being a British colony to an independent country in its own right, it was decided that it needed a mint of its own and in 1901 a branch of the Royal Mint was authorised to be built in Ottawa.

The branch mint in Canada finally opened on 2 January 1908 and it wasn’t until 1931 that it gained its independence from The Royal Mint and the Royal Canadian Mint was born.

In the 23-year period when the British Royal Mint operated in Canada, some fascinating gold coins were struck, including this 1911 Sovereign from the coronation year of George V and Queen Mary.