Breaking the mold to prove there can be more than two sides to a coin, the Royal Canadian Mint has proudly created a collectible in the three-dimensional shape of a real cut diamond. The 2020 $50 Fine Silver Diamond Shaped Coin - Forevermark© Diamond is crafted from three ounces of 99.99% pure silver and is adorned by a 0.20-carat diamond from Northern Ontario's Victor Mine. The Mint's R&D team overcame many challenges to flawlessly strike this dramatically contoured coin and produce a luxury collectible that is also a unique engineering feat. This extraordinary creation, along with many other finely crafted collectibles, is available to the public as of today.
Yet another numismatic evolution comes from the Mint's R&D Lab Collection. The 2019 $2 Fine Silver Coin - Multilayered Polar Bear. The coin reinvents artist Brent Townsend's iconic $2 circulation coin polar bear design, as the design elements of its reverse appear on distinctly separate layers of engraving: the polar bear and outer ring area appear to float above the arctic seascape that is home to this icon of Canadian currency.
Turning to the past, the Mint has issued new coins recognizing symbols of history with the half-kilogram 2020 $125 Fine Silver Coin - 75th Anniversary of UNESCO, featuring L'Anse aux Meadows Historic Site. The archeological remains of Canada's famous authenticated Viking settlement, located at the northwest tip of Newfoundland, come back to life on an illustration of bygone village life imagined by artist Rebecca Yanovskaya. This selectively gold-plated coin features a UNESCO privy mark, along with runic-style script and Viking scrollwork.
Fast-forwarding to early French and English settlement of Canada, the 2020 $10 Fine Silver Coin – 350th Anniversary of Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) recreates HBC's trade token featuring the company's coat of arms, and is struck in a style that mimics the minting process of the period. The 2020 $10 Pure Gold Coin Relics of New France: Louis XIV 15 Sol, revives the regal elegance of a 450 year-old piece of colonial numismatic history, on a quarter ounce of 99.99% pure gold.
Other coins launching in March include:
Mintages, pricing and full background information on each product can be found on the "Shop" tab of www.mint.ca. Coin images are available here.