The Royal Canadian Mint reinvents the coin with its first-ever collectible in the shape of a real cut diamond

Mar 4, 2020 - 5 years ago

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 March 3rd.

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:

The 2020 $20 Fine Silver Coin – Mother Earth: Home, a Jamie Desrochers designed coin featuring a coloured view of Earth from the silvery surface of the moon, with black light technology that intensifies the Milky Way illustrated in the background;
The 2020 $20 Fine Silver Coin – Bejewelled Bugs – Labybug, featuring the artwork of Jori van der Linde, adorned by a black and white rhodium-plated ladybug encrusted with garnet and sapphire gemstones;
The gold-plated 2020 $50 Fine Silver Coin – Real Shapes: Beaver;
The 2020 $50 Fine Silver Coin – Courageous Bald Eagle featuring artist Steve Hepburn's graceful perspective of an eagle soaring above a Canadian coast line;
The 2020 $3 Fine Silver Coin – Floral Emblems of Canada – Ontario: White Trillium, the first of 13 Lisa Thomson-Khan-designed coins illustrating the official flowers of all of Canada's provinces and territories;
The 2020 $10 Fine Silver Coin – Congratulations on Your Graduation, featuring the artwork of Jori van der Linde;
The 2020 25-Cent Coin Set – Connecting Canada, a Tony Bianco-designed trio of coins celebrating each of Canada's three coasts;
The 2020 Special Wrap Roll Collection – First Strikes, a set featuring special-wrapped rolls of every circulating coin denomination; and,
The crystal-enhanced 2020 $5 Fine Silver Coin – Birthstones: March, featuring the artwork of Pandora Young.

Source: Royal Canadian Mint