Money experts say the Canadian coin worth the most money is the 1911 silver dollar, which is valued at more than $1 million. Its value is that high because only two were made, says Graham Esler, curator at the Bank of Canada Currency Museum in Ottawa.

Both were patterns made by the Royal Mint in London, England, for a set which was to include the silver dollar and gold coins worth two-and-half dollars, $5, $10 and $20. They were authorized under the Dominion of Canada Currency Act, 1910, but for some reason the federal government of the day changed its mind and cancelled the silver dollar and the rest of the set.

A year later, however, the $5 and $10 coins were struck in gold. But nothing ever became of the 1911 silver dollar or the gold 1911 two-and-a-half and $20 dollar coins. The 1911 silver dollar depicts King George the V and is 92.5 per cent silver. It weighs 23.3 grams and is 36 millimetres in diameter.

So where are the two silver dollar patterns?

One is on display at the Bank of Canada Currency Museum, which also owns and displays the lead strike which was used to mint the pattern coins. The other was owned, last we heard, by American collector/dealer Jay Perrino. He purchased it for more than $1 million from Albern Coins and Foreign Exchange Ltd. in Calgary, which had owned it since 1996.