History of Canadian Currency - 19th Century - 1865

1865

Newfoundland starts to release its own coinage. In 1865, the one-cent, five-cent, ten-cent, twenty-cent and two dollar coins were released. It was a decimal coinage that represented fractions of the Spanish dollar unit that was used in British Guiana. This had the benefit of making one penny sterling exactly equal to two new Newfoundland cents. This was seen as a compromise between those who wanted Newfoundland to adopt the British system and those who wanted Newfoundland to adopt the American system. The Spanish dollar unit was slightly greater in value than the US dollar unit. This was because in 1792 when the US dollar was created, Hamilton at the treasury had weighed an average sample of worn Spanish dollars and the US dollar was defined, based on that average weight.

Newfoundland eventually became fully integrated into the Canadian monetary system in 1894 following the Newfoundland bank crash. The Canadian banks moved in following the crash, and the Canadian dollar was introduced.