An electrotype exhibition replica of the legendary 1911 George V Canadian silver dollar failed to sell at auction on Jan. 12 in New York and is now being offered for post-auction purchase at a fixed price of US$61,000, including buyer’s premium.
Presented by Heritage Auctions as Lot 34128 in its NYINC World & Ancient Coins Platinum Session and Signature Auction, the piece carried a pre-sale estimate of US$100,000 to US$120,000. Bidding opened at US$50,000 but did not reach a level sufficient to secure a sale during the live auction.
Following the unsold result, Heritage has placed the electrotype into its post-auction “Buy Now” inventory, with the asking price set at US$61,000, or about $84,790 in Canadian funds. The price includes the buyer’s premium. The auction firm is also accepting offers on the piece until 8 a.m. CT on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. In the event of multiple offers at the same level, priority will be given to the first received, and there is no guarantee that any offer will be accepted.
As previously reported by Canadian Coin News, the 1911 silver dollar occupies a singular place in Canadian numismatic history. Intended to be Canada’s first silver dollar, the denomination was authorized through legislation introduced in 1910, following decades of reliance on foreign coinage, provincial issues and small-denomination Canadian coins. Bill 195 formally called for production of a silver dollar, reflecting growing national interest in a large-format Canadian coin.
Production preparations began later that year, but progress was slow. The creation and delivery of dies proved time-consuming, and nearly a year after Bill 195 was accepted, a change in government brought the project to an abrupt end. The cancellation left only the master dies and three trial strikes as evidence of Canada’s first attempt at a silver dollar.
Those three pattern specimens rank among the great rarities of Canadian numismatics and are housed in the Bank of Canada Museum, where they are carefully preserved and unavailable to collectors.
The piece offered by Heritage is an electrotype replica believed to have been produced by the Ready brothers for exhibition purposes. With the original trial strikes both inaccessible and closely monitored, electrotypes were created to satisfy public interest and to allow museums and mints to display representations of the historic issue.
Composed of approximately 86 per cent copper and 12.5 per cent silver, the electrotype measures 36 millimetres in diameter and has been graded MS-63 by Professional Coin Grading Service. While not a pattern strike, it closely follows the original 1911 dollar design and is widely regarded as the closest obtainable alternative to the fabled issue itself.
For Canadian specialists, such electrotypes represent a tangible link to one of the most important unrealized chapters in the nation’s coinage history, combining exhibition origins, historical association and close fidelity to a legendary design.