The Royal Canadian Mint has started accepting orders for their latest monthly batch of new product releases. There are numerous holiday and winter themed coins, which incorporate special characteristics such as Venetian glass, a lenticular design with a 3D effect, and ultra high relief. Fractional sets have been released for Gold and Silver Maple Leaf series, which each include innovative firsts.
All of the new products can now be found within the new releases section of the Royal Canadian Mint’s website.
A 1 oz silver proof coin features a festive outdoor holiday scene which includes a three-dimensional Venetian glass snowman created by master glass makers in Murano, Italy, Vio col vetro. Since it is crafted by hand, each glass snowman is unique. Previous issues with Venetian glass inserts have been popular with collectors. This issue is limited to a mintage of 10,000 pieces and carries a limit of two coins per household.
Another 1 oz silver proof coin features a full color painted and engraved scene of a family ice skating on a frozen pond. The image is based on an original painting by Douglas Laird and includes a mother, father, son, daughter, and two dogs. The young girl raises her hands like a figure skater and the young boy holds a hockey stick. The mintage is limited to 7,000 pieces.
The winter themed coins continue with a 1/2 oz silver proof coin featuring a colorful winter scene by artist Louise Martineau. Three children are shown tobogganing behind their house. In the foreground one child pulls another across a gully in a snowdrift. In the background, a child in shown in mid tumble with a small sled flying into the air. The issue is limited to a mintage of 8,000 pieces.
The latest release in the “$20 for $20” coin series features a fanciful depiction of a snowman taking part in a snowball fight. The coins are struck in 99.99% silver and have a weight of 7.96 grams (0.256 troy ounces) and diameter of 27 mm. The maximum mintage is established at 200,000 pieces. The coins are priced at their legal tender face value of $20 each with free ground shipping.
A 50-cent cupronickel coin with a specimen finish features a two image lenticular design which creates a 3D effect. The first image shows an evergreen outdoors in cool colors of blue and violet. The second images shows the same tree transported to a vibrantly colored indoor scene where it has become one family’s Christmas tree. The coin measures 35 mm in diameter and has a mintage of 20,000 pieces.
The next release represents the first time that the Royal Canadian Mint has issued an ultra high relief coin with color. The reverse design features the image of a stylized circular Christmas ornament with a deeply indented star at center and petals of green, red, and blue surrounding. The coin is quadruple struck, hand polished, and uses a sheet effect colorization technique to make the color glitter under the light.
Each coin is struck in 99.99% pure silver to proof quality with a weight of 30.76 grams and diameter of 36.15 mm. The maximum mintage is 6,000 pieces.
This is one release that I would really like to see in hand to experience how the various elements come together.
A final winter themed coin features a depiction of a black-capped chickadee with five Swarovski crystal elements integrated into the design as bright red berries hanging from the tree branch. The 1 oz silver proof coin is limited to a mintage of 7,500 pieces.
The Royal Canadian Mint’s second silver coin incorporating glow in the dark technology features an image of layers of sugar maple leaves, which have begun their transition to autumn colors of red, orange, and yellow. A single glowing maple leaf hidden in the design is revealed through glow in the dark technology. The 1 oz silver proof coin is limited to a mintage of 7,500 pieces.
One of the most famous photographs taken in Canada during World War II is featured across three different coins. A five year old boy is shown breaking away from his mother’s grasp to run after his father as he marches off to war. Known as “Wait for Me, Daddy”, the photo was taken in New Westminster, B.C. in the fall of 1940.
A 1/2 oz silver proof coin with coloration is offered with a mintage of 10,000. The same design without color is featured on a 1/4 oz silver proof coin with a mintage of 15,000 and an bimetallic $2 circulation coin. These coins are listed as available in Canada only.
An intricately detailed 2 oz silver proof coin features the National Aboriginal Veterans Monument, located in Ottawa’s Confederation Park. The monument designed by Noel Lloyd Pinay features the Thunderbird at the top with a First Nations man, an Inuit man, a Métis man and a First Nations woman gazing in the four directions of the compass. At the base are a wolf, bear, elk, and bison.
For the first time, the same image is used on a 2 oz silver coin as well as the large sized 5-kilogram silver version. The 2 oz version carries a mintage of 5,000 pieces, while the 5 kilogram version has a mintage of 150.
The second 1/2 oz gold proof coin in the three coin “Interconnection” series is dedicated to air. The central motif is a Thunderbird stylized in the tradition of Everson’s K’ómoks and Kwakwaka’wakw ancestors. The image is framed by eight rays of the sun with eight stylized stars in between. The maximum mintage for the issue is 1,500 pieces.
The first of a few animal themed releases for this month is a 1 oz silver proof coin carrying a colored depiction of a wolf. The reverse design features a howling wolf within its natural habitat presented in color over an engraved surface. The coins are limited to a mintage of 7,500 with an ordering limit of two coins per household.
Next is a 1 oz silver proof coin with a colored depiction of the majestic moose. The design features a side profile of a bull moose as it makes its way through a winter forest. The issue is limited to a mintage of 7,500 with an ordering limit of two per household.
The third coin in the series for the white-tailed deer is entitled “Mates” and features a buck and doe as they leap over a fallen pine tree. The coins incorporate edge lettering. A maximum mintage of 7,500 has been established with an ordering limit of three coins per household.
This year’s Silver Maple Leaf Fractional Set brings two firsts for the Royal Canadian Mint. The reverse design of each coin is struck with incuse technology, meaning that the design and inscriptions should be sunken into the surface of the coin. The 1 oz sized coin included in the set is accented by translucent red enamel. All coins are produced with a reverse proof finish.
The full set includes 1/20 oz, 1/10 oz, 1/4 oz, 1/2 oz, and 1 oz sized coins struck in 99.99% pure silver. There is a maximum mintage of 9,999 units established.
The Gold Maple Leaf Fractional Set also includes two firsts. Each coin in the set features a different reverse design image of a maple leaf as it spins gracefully through the air. The 1 oz sized coin has been edge lettered with a serialized number to make each set unique.
The set includes 1/20 oz, 1/10 oz, 1/4 oz, and 1 oz sized coins struck in 99.99% pure gold with a reverse proof finish. The maximum mintage is 600 units.
Samuel says
the “Wait for Me, Daddy” makes me real sad.
Chester Q says
The Royal Canadian Mint is not producing coins so much as they are producing trinkets. A day does not go by now where I do not get an email from the RCM promoting yet another dubious new issue. Aside from the ubiquitous amounts of new issues, you have prices which are incredibly expensive. Nobody is gong to collect all these coins and they are not going to be ongoing series so there is little chance of recouping your investment. Why should I pay over $100 for a silver maple leaf? Who cares if it glows in the dark? What will it do light up my safe deposit box? When is enough enough?
Michael Zielinski says
Re: “Wait For Me, Daddy” Coin. An article on Coin Update has the actual photograph and more backstory. The father did survive the war and return to his family.
http://news.coinupdate.com/iconic-canadian-world-war-ii-photograph-immortalized-on-new-coins-4507/
VA Rich says
HW – thanks much for the email!
John says
Coins by all mints are relatively expensive and RCM coins are somewhere in the middle of the pack–everyone has different tastes, so a large output by a mint ends up satisfying someone. Who wants to collect or CAN AFFORD to collect everything anyway? If you don’t like the e-mails, just trash them immediately or unsubscribe to them? Why do we need so many brands of cereal. cars, football teams, etc?