Coins can be collected in various manners: coins for circulation versus coins for collectors, individual coins versus sets or rolls, circulated coins versus mint state, every date and mint mark versus major types. This Web site presents information to help with assembling a "type" collection of individual circulated Dominion of Canada coins.

What is "type" collecting? Type collecting is assembling coins of different designs. A type set generally excludes minor variations that include the same basic design. Examples are date change, and mint marks. Major variations in coin composition (such as a switch from 80% silver to 100% nickel) constitute a type change, but a minor variation (such as the ratios of copper, tin, and zinc in 1940s 1-cent coins) do not represent a type change.

Different collectors will have their own opinions of what coins should be included in a type collection. The following is my interpretation of significant year-to-year changes in Canadian circulating coins.

The monetary system of Canada:

• 1867-
  • 100 Cents = 1 Dollar

One cent	Starting with 1876-1901
Five cents	Starting with 1870-1901
Ten cents	Starting with 1870-1901
Twenty-five cents	Starting with 1870-1901
Fifty cents	Starting with 1870-1901
One dollar	Starting with 1935
Two dollars	Starting with 1996-1998
Five dollars	Starting with 1912-1914
Ten dollars	Starting with 1912-1914
Twenty dollars	Starting with 2011