Canada Gold Sovereign

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The Canada gold sovereign coins started to be minted during Edward VII reign on January 2nd in 1908 at the Ottawa Mint, Canada, gold having been recently discovered at the Yukon and British Columbia.

The mint was set up to coin the gold that came out of these mines and the date the mint opened is the date of the first British Gold Sovereign to be struck at this branch. However, it wasn't the first coin to be struck, obviously the Ottawa mint struck coinage in other metals and thus the 1st coin to be struck was actually a silver 50c piece.

As Canada gold sovereigns were only struck at the Ottawa Mint for 10 years from 1908 to 1918 this makes any sovereigns coming out of the Ottawa mint valuable due to scarcity and rarity and in 2 cases extremely rare, because although proportionally speaking the amount of sovereigns minted varied each year, there were times when the coins would have been recalled and melted down to make new coins thus making the some years very scarce. The following 2 years being extremely rare and valuable - 1908 and 1916, the rarest being the 1908. In April 1969 it was made a Crown Corporation.

The Ottawa Mint is still in operation today under the name of The Royal Canadian Mint.

Total of all sovereigns struck during those 10 years - 628,152

Years Canada Gold Sovereigns were produced in Ottawa: 1908–1919

Breakdown of Years Minted

Date	Mintage
1908	646
1909	16,300
1910	28,020
1911	257,048
1913	3,717
1914	14,900
1916	6,119
1917	58,875
1918	106,570
1919	135,957

How to Spot an Ottawa Mint Mark

Look on the reverse of the sovereign. The letter "C" will be visible above the middle of the year date, below the right hind hoof of St George's horse in the center of the ground that the horse is standing on.