Victorian Cents of Canada
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Links to the different sections of this website are at the top of the page.  Links to the individual pages in the coin information section are below.  Click on the orange text to move to a page in this section. 

Collecting Canadian Coins

Victorian Large Cents

Mintage & Mintmarks
Victorian Cent Obverse Types

The Hybrid Obverses

Victorian Cent Reverse Types
1884 Obverse 1 Cents

1891 Cent Varieties

1892 Obverse 2 Cents

Victorian Cent Error Types


1892 Obverse 2 Cents

The Royal Mint used two known obverse 2 dies to mint cents dated 1892.  Since this was the last year that they used obverse 2 dies, it seems apparent that they merely consumed the remaining obverse 2 dies in their inventory during this year.  1892 cents from either die are scarce and command a premium over 1892 obverse 3 and 4 cents.

Punch O2R

One of the dies known to have struck 1892 obverse 2 cents was sunk from Turner Punch O2R.  This die had the distinctive cleft chin and wider truncation of obverse 2 (see the page on Victorian cent obverses).  It also had a distinctive broken lower serif on the letter "D" of DEI.  The rest of the obverse legends were relatively intact.  This die developed no known die cracks.

This die has an intact lower left serif on the "N" in REGINA.  The only other obverse 2 die used in 1892, described below, does not.

Although 1892 obverse 2 cents from either die are scarce, coins from this die seem considerably harder to find.









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Picture

Punch O2S

The only other known die used to mint 1892 obverse 2 cents was sunk from Turner Punch O2S.  This punch also had the normal obverse 2 characteristics and the missing lower serif on the "D" in DEI.  In addition, it displayed a missing lower serif on the "N" in  REGINA and a missing upper serif on the "D" in CANADA. 

This die also developed a very visible die crack through the "A" in GRATIA.

Although coins from this die are more common than those from the O2R die shown above, they are also scarce.

If, after examining the monarch's chin (see the page on Victorian obverses) of an 1892 cent, you are unsure if it displays obverse 2 or obverse 4, check the serifs on the "D" in DEI.  On an 1892 obverse 2 cent, the lower serif is broken.  On an 1892 obverse 4 cent, it is intact.

Here is a link to a high resolution PDF poster that shows all three obverse used for 1892 large cents.  Click here.