Marina Fischer, curator of the Numismatic Collection of the Nickle Galleries at the University of Calgary, was recently interviewed by CBC Radio.
Loren McGinnis, the host of CBC’s Calgary Eyeopener, interviewed Fischer about the significance of the effigy of Canada’s new monarch, King Charles III, on Canadian coins.
“I think this is an incredible time for us to witness,” Fischer said in the interview. “It’s time for reflection. It’s hard not to feel that we are witnessing an important moment in history for Canada and Canadians. I think, especially in the future when we look back to this moment, it will be interesting to see these coins as little portals into the past and we try to understand ourselves better.”
The contemporary portrait of Charles III is the work of Canadian artist Steven Rosati. “He truly managed to capture the feel of the person and I’ve seen this in his painted portraits,” Fischer said. “With King Charles, he managed to portray him as powerful, simple, strong, but nonetheless relaxed, natural, which makes it accessible and easy to connect, which is not an easy task to do and basically what we now have is a tiny work of art on these tiny little pieces of metal.
“Generally when we look at money and coins, there are different ways how we value them. It’s not just the intrinsic value of what is assigned or the token value of our money, but it is particularly history that makes it valuable,” Fischer added. “And, in this particular case, we look at some of the early issues that are coming out right now, and they are going to be quite sought after. We’re going to look back at these coins, and they are going to be quite meaningful in many different ways.”
To listen to the full interview, aired Nov. 30, visit cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-134-the-story-from-here/clip/16026902-first-canadian-winter-king-charles-coins-tour-bc