2003 Canada Elizabeth II 5 Cents (3rd portrait, magnetic)

About the 2003 Canada Elizabeth II 5 Cents (3rd portrait, magnetic)

The change was driven by the rising cost of base metals and the Mint's development of its own plating technology at its Winnipeg facility. The steel core gives these pieces their magnetic quality, which separates them from earlier nonmagnetic issues and makes a simple magnet a useful tool for collectors sorting the series. The obverse carries the 3rd portrait of Elizabeth II by Dora de Pédery-Hunt, showing the Queen wearing a tiara and conveying a mature, dignified likeness. The reverse keeps the enduring beaver design by George Edward Kruger Gray, depicting the national animal atop a rock in front of a waterfall, a motif long associated with Canadian identity. For numismatists, this type is a natural focal point within a Canadian collection because it captures the meeting of a classic design tradition with modern minting innovation. It invites close study of composition varieties, die characteristics and the transition between metal types during the reign of Elizabeth II.