The Big Nickel: Sudbury's Giant Roadside Landmark

If you're making the drive toward Sudbury, it's worth the detour to stand underneath the world's largest coin. The Big Nickel is a 9-metre (30-foot) tall, 13,000-kilogram stainless steel replica of a 1951 Canadian nickel, mounted on a 3.6-metre (12-foot) pedestal — over three storeys of coin, visible long before you reach it.

One side of the monument features the profile of King George VI, while the reverse showcases a nickel refinery with a smoking chimney stack — the same design as the real 1951 nickel it's modelled on. Despite the name, it isn't actually made of pure nickel: the monument is built from stainless steel panels attached to a steel frame, tough enough to hold up against the northern Ontario climate winter after winter.

The Big Nickel was erected in 1964 by local firefighter Ted Szilva as a tribute to Sudbury's mining industry and the economic wealth its nickel production contributed to Canada. Six decades later, it's still one of the most recognizable roadside attractions in the province.

You'll find it on a hill on the grounds of Dynamic Earth, an earth science and mining museum run by Science North on the west side of Sudbury. Visiting the base of the Big Nickel for photos is free, while going inside Dynamic Earth for the underground mine tour requires paid admission — a good option if you want to turn the stop into a full afternoon rather than just a photo op.

If you'd like a closer look before you go, there's a video tour of the Big Nickel and Dynamic Earth's underground mine on YouTube that gives a good sense of the grounds and what the underground experience is like.

It's a fun, easy add-on to a Killarney / French River trip if you're already headed toward Sudbury — a quick photo stop for some, a half-day outing for others.

Photo: Ryan Sharpe, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).