Loonie Toonie and the Canada Dollar Coin Before the Loonie Portrays a Voyageur and an Aboriginal Paddling a Birch-bark Canoe -3 Canada Coins Old & New Design for Gift and Collection

Loonie is the name Canadians have given the gold-coloured, bronze-plated, one-dollar coin shortly after its introduction in 1987. It bears images of a common loon, a well-known Canadian bird, on the reverse, and of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse. The design for the coin was meant to be a voyageur theme, similar to the country's previous one dollar/silver dollar coin, but the master dies were lost by the courier service while in transit to the Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg. In order to avoid possible counterfeiting, a different design was used. The coin has become the symbol of its currency. Newspapers will often discuss the rate at which the loonie is trading against the United States "greenback". The nickname loonie (huard in French), initially a slang term for the Canadian dollar, became so widely recognized that in 2006 the Royal Canadian Mint secured the rights to the name "Loonie".[citation needed] The coin -- an 11-sided polygon -- is made of Aureate, a bronze-electroplated nickel combination. The total composition of the coin is 91.5% nickel and 8.5% bronze. The bronze is about 88% copper and 12% tin.

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