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Medal - The Big Penny Sudbury, Ontario

Medal - The Big Penny (Sudbury, Ontario) - obverseMedal - The Big Penny (Sudbury, Ontario) - reverse

© Greg Laws (CC BY-NC)

Features

Location Canada
Type Coin replicas
Year 1965
Composition Copper
Weight 21.38 g
Diameter 38.5 mm
Thickness 2.25 mm
Shape Round
Technique Milled
Orientation Medal alignment ↑↑
Number
N#
567211

Obverse

Queen Elizabeth II facing right

Script: Latin

Lettering: ELIZABETH II D G REGINA

Translation: Elizabeth II, Queen by the Grace of God

Reverse

Two maple leaves with text above and below, similar in design to a normal Canadian cent.

Script: Latin

Lettering:
1 CENT
1965
THE BIG PENNY
SUDBURY
CANADA

Edge

Plain

Comments

This version is similar to the copper plated (anodized) aluminum version with no designated mint.

A later Lombardo version of this medal is even heavier (closer to 25 g).

As per Jeff Fournier's 1995 “Sudbury Numismatics” (pages 19 & 30).

Sudbury, Ontario sits on the world's largest reserves of nickel metal, deposited by an ancient meteorite strike. In the early 1960s, an idea was conceived in order to commemorate both Sudbury's nickel production and the Canadian Centennial (fast approaching in 1967). It was decided that a "Canadian Centennial Numismatic Park" would be opened, the only Numismatic Park in the world. Giant replicas of various coins would be produced and permanently displayed in the park. The centerpiece would be a replica of Canada's commemorative 5-cent coin from 1951, a coin commemorating the 200th anniversary of the first isolation of nickel metal - a perfect fit for this nickel-mining city. This was the famous "Big Nickel", completed in 1964. At 9 meters tall, it is perhaps the largest coin statue in the world.
The newly opened Numismatic Park also hosted smaller replicas of four other coins - a Canadian cent from 1965, an American Lincoln Memorial cent, an American Kennedy half dollar, and a commemorative Canadian $20 gold coin from 1967. Sadly, these have since been dismantled.
The Big Nickel was privately funded by Ted Szilva. To raise money for the monument's construction, he commissioned a wide variety of special medallions to be sold to collectors across the globe. Some of these medallions depicted scenes of Sudbury, others were oversized copies of the coins he intended to build statues of. This 1-cent medallion is one of these promotional fundraising issues.

See also

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Date VG F VF XF AU UNC
1965 

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This index is based on the data of Numista members collections. It ranges from 0 to 100, 0 meaning a very common coin or banknote and 100 meaning a rare coin or banknote among Numista members.

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