The story of this dollar began in 1934, when Canada’s Department of Finance invited sculptor Emanuel Hahn to design a silver dollar for the silver jubilee of George V. His design was approved with only minor changes, and nearly half a century later, in 1981, it still graced the circulating coin.

Hahn showed a voyageur and an Indigenous guide in a canoe laden with furs, passing an islet with two pines beneath bands of northern lights. For accuracy he studied traditional canoes and the paintings of Frances Anne Hopkins. The obverse shows Elizabeth II wearing a tiara, a portrait by Arnold Machin.

The coin has been struck in nickel since 1968.

It fills 1981 in a date run of nickel voyageurs, the type replaced by the «loonie» in 1987.

The VF-AU grade spans from VF, with noticeable wear on the high points but sharp main details and legends, to AU, where rubbing is barely visible on the very highest points and most of the lustre remains.

Would you like to complete the whole series? See the other issues in the VPcoins catalogue.