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Mr. Ted Szilva, a local Sudbury police officer, thought of the idea of using a nickel as a symbol for the city from a suggestion by John Fisher, a former president of the Canadian Tourist Association. Szilva imagined the symbol on signs around the municipality, helping to promote the area. Bruno Cavallo, an artist and sign maker, was the man who first introduced the notion of a three-dimensional nickel monument, the "Big Nickel."
In the early 1960s, the Sudbury Star newspaper was holding a contest involving readers submitting Centennial project ideas for the city. Szilva was inspired by Cavallo's three-dimensional concept, and therefore introduced the idea of a Canadian Centennial Numismatic Park. Included would be a Big Nickel monument, an operational mine and a museum in a park-like setting.
After being rejected by the city's Centennial Committee, Szilva was convinced it would be a success and decided to build the park himself.
In 1963, he purchased several acres of land on which he would develop the park, overlooking the INCO reduction works at Copper Cliff. His plan involved the construction of eighteen giant "coin" monuments and a Canadian dollar bill. The park would also feature a nickel museum, a model railroad, a world-class coin collection and an authentic mine. It was the nation's largest privately developed Centennial project.
On July 22, 1964, after many months of planning, the park was officially dedicated and opened. The Big Nickel was unveiled by John Fisher in front of 2,500 local residents and dignitaries. The monument sits on a 4-metre-high base, made of rich ore-bearing rock and stone found in the Sudbury basin. It measures 9 metres in diameter and is 60 centimetres thick. The inner core is made of wood and is covered by sheets of stainless steel. The construction of this massive structure cost $35,000 and was modelled after the 1951 Canadian commemorative five-cent piece featuring King George VI on the obverse and a representation of a nickel refinery on the reverse.
The 1951 five-cent piece was designed by Canadian artist Steve Trenka. His interpretation of a nickel refinery was not based on any actual building, although some believed it to be the Inco Refinery in Sudbury. The design was chosen for the Big Nickel Monument since it marked the bicentennial of the chemical isolation of nickel as an element by the Swedish chemist Baron Axel Frederic Cronstedt in 1751. Naturally, this metal played a large role in the establishment of Sudbury.
Before 1751, the element confused and enraged refiners. It was thought to be an alloy of copper and was named "Kupfernickel" or "Old Nick's Copper" by German miners. This "Devil's Copper" could not be extracted with the limited technology available at the time. Cronstedt was able to prove that the trouble refiners faced was due to the unknown element which he named nickel.
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