For six decades now, the Big Nickel has presided over Sudbury, one of the symbols of our community along with the Superstack and Science North.
Sudburians and visitors to our community gathered at Dynamic Earth early on July 22 to wish the 30-foot replica of a 1951 Canadian nickel a happy 60th birthday.
The event included a giant group photo with the Big Nickel and a discount on general admission to Dynamic Earth for the day. Staff scientists were on hand to share facts about the Big Nickel with visitors.
“Over the past six decades, the Big Nickel has attracted millions of visitors from around the world,” said Science North CEO Ashley Larose.
She said having the Big Nickel reside at Dynamic Earth “makes perfect sense. Both celebrate Sudbury’s rich mining history and focus on education. Dynamic Earth’s exhibits and the Big Nickel’s symbolism create a cohesive, engaging experience for our visitors. They complement each other perfectly, offering a deep dive into our mining heritage.”
Sudbury MP Viviane Lapointe, who was on hand for the event, said that when people visit Sudbury, the Big Nickel is the must-take photo for their Instagram pages.
“But for people who love Sudbury, and for those who grew up in Sudbury, it’s so much more,” Lapointe said. “As Ashley said, it is a monument to the rich mining history Sudbury has and boasts.”
The monument is based on the 1951 nickel, as that year was the 200th anniversary of the isolation of nickel as a mineral.
On the “heads” side is King George VI, and on the “tails,” a stylized nickel refinery with one large stack. However, it is not the Sudbury superstack (which was not completed until some years later).
The Big Nickel is the largest coin in the world. It is about 64,607,747 times the size of a real Canadian nickel. It is not, however, made of nickel, Larose explained July 22, but rather of stainless steel and soldered together with silver.
In the 1960s, the Big Nickel was joined by four other oversized monuments: The Fantasy Penny, The Lincoln Penny, The Kennedy Half Dollar and The Twenty Dollar Gold Piece. These other four monuments were all dismantled in 1984.
The Big Nickel, created by the late Sudbury businessman Ted Szilva, was built in 1964. Szilva told us in an interview ahead of the monument’s 50th birthday in 2014 that he raised the $35,000 it cost to build the structure by selling miniature medallion versions of the monument.
Szilva came up with the idea of the monument as part of a contest for ideas to commemorate Canada’s centennial. He didn't win the contest, but went on to build what became known as the Big Nickel anyway.
Passing away in 2016, Szilva was “a beloved friend” of Science North and Dynamic Earth who is “truly missed,” said Jennifer Beaudry, Dynamic Earth’s senior scientist.
She said the book Szilva published along with son, Jim, 10 years ago about the full story behind creation of the Big Nickel is for sale in Dynamic Earth’s gift shop.
Since visiting the Big Nickel is such a time-honoured Canadian road trip tradition across the decades, Sudbury.com chatted with a few families who were doing just that on July 22.
The Yuja family from Hamilton is currently camping in Grundy Lake Provincial Park, and when they heard about the birthday event, they decided to make a side trip to the Big Nickel. They were also planning to take in Dynamic Earth and Science North today.
“I came here as a kid and I wanted to show the kids,” said Holly, who visited the monument with husband, Erick, and sons Ethan and Owen.
Also checking out the Big Nickel July 22 was the Czestiakow family from Ottawa, including parents Shane and Pam and kids Penelope and June.
“It’s pretty cool,” said Penelope. “It’s really high.”
Shane, who grew up in Timmins, said he hadn’t been to the Big Nickel since he was a teenager. Commenting on the monument’s birthday, he said “it’s fabulous. It's good to keep it around. We need more things like that to stay.”
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor.
