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I found a 1986 canadian penny that is not exactly round, it is like an octogon shape but with 12 sides instead of eight. It is not real noticiable but you can see it when you look and when you run your finger around it you can feel the points. Is this normal?

Yup, normal. They are all like that from 1982-1996 I believe. I'm sure someone will have better info than that but they are normal.

Thank you, I thought it was normal but I just wanted to be sure befor I threw it in with the others

merchoarder wrote:Yup, normal. They are all like that from 1982-1996 I believe. I'm sure someone will have better info than that but they are normal.

And from the mint website--

1982-1996
The maple leaf twig (12-sided coin)
The shape of the maple leaf twig was altered to make identification easier for the visually impaired. The coin reverted to the round design in 1997.

Thanks Henrys, I didn't realize that was the reason. Isn't that also the reason for reeded vs smooth edges on US coins?

Oh, and welcome to you stonewall! Never be afraid to ask a question here, I'm rather new myself and have asked a few "silly" ones. No one will give you a hard time, maybe a little good natured teasing, but seriously this place is a true wealth of knowledge!!!

The reason US coins are Reeded (and all foreign coins as well) is because it was a way to determine if the coin had been clipped for its metal content.

Back in the day people would take coins and try to remove as much silver or gold off a coin so they could profit from the remains. If a coin was too worn or clipped of too much on the edge you knew to reject that coin. This tradition has been carried over today's coins.

Hence Nickel and pennies are smooth- not worth anything to ever try something like that

There are also sided Canadian nickels from I think 1942-62, my mom used to collect them when she was younger. Funny that they've tried the same thing a couple of times with the idea of making the coins more 'distinctive' but then they don't stick to it. The sided pennies make it easier to hand sort for copper because they provide a way to distinguish between 1990-96 coppers and 97-99 zincs (which both have the same crowned portrait of the queen) without seeing the date side. The earlier round copper pennies can be identified by the portraits alone.