The Royal Canadian Mint unveiled a diverse group of collector and bullion coins on Oct. 6, with designs celebrating Canadian wildlife, Remembrance, folklore and exploration.
Among the most imposing is the 2026 $500 Heraldic Landscape: Animals of Canada, a five-kilogram coin struck in 99.99 per cent pure silver. Designed by heraldic artist Cathy Bursey-Sabourin, its reverse features 13 animals selected for their historic or heraldic connections to Canada’s provinces and territories.
The 180-mm coin has a mintage of just 120. The same Bursey-Sabourin design appears on a five-ounce $50 silver version, where selective gold plating highlights the animals. That edition measures 65.25 mm and has a mintage of 1,400.
The October lineup takes a supernatural turn with the 2026 $20 Haunted Canada: Gibraltar Point Lighthouse. Patrick Bélanger’s rectangular design depicts the Toronto Islands lighthouse and draws on the legend surrounding its first keeper, John Paul Radelmüller, who disappeared in 1815. Black-light paint transforms the stormy scene when illuminated, causing the lighthouse to glow and revealing a ghostly figure. The 49.80-by-28.60-mm Proof coin contains 31.56 grams of 99.99 per cent pure silver and has a mintage of 6,500.
Another unusual release is the Mint’s second functional sundial coin. Designed by Jori van der Linde, the 2026 $20 The Sundial features Roman numerals, botanical elements, a globe and compass rose. A three-dimensional rhodium-plated brass gnomon rises from the reverse and casts a shadow that can indicate local solar time when properly positioned in sunlight. The 38-mm Proof coin contains 31.39 grams of 99.99 per cent pure silver, with 7,000 available worldwide.
A 2026 $20 Remembrance Day coin designed by Claire Watson marks the 100th anniversary of The Royal Canadian Legion. Its reverse features a selectively coloured red cloth Poppy inspired by those worn during the 1920s, surrounded by a field of poppies. The Legion’s Latin motto, “MEMORIAM EORUM RETINEBIMUS,” or “We Will Remember Them,” also appears in the design. Struck from 31.39 grams of 99.99 per cent pure silver, the 38-mm Proof coin has a mintage of 7,500.
Joel Kimmel takes collectors back into the Mint’s imaginary steampunk world with the 2026 $50 A Whimsical Tale: Blimp. Following 2025’s Locomotive, the new design depicts a fantastical airship above a Victorian-inspired city filled with gears and machinery. An antique finish reinforces the appearance of aged industrial metal. The 55-mm coin contains three ounces of 99.99 per cent pure silver and has a mintage of 1,850.
The Mint also introduced several 2027 premium-bullion coins. Three one-ounce $5 Treasured Silver Maple Leafs pair Walter Ott’s familiar design with new privy marks: a loon by Steve Hepburn, four-leaf clover by Julien Roger Duguay and Year of the Goat by Jai Paek. The 38-mm coins are struck in 99.99 per cent pure silver, with a mintage of 20,000.
A one-tenth-ounce 99.99 per cent pure gold Treasured Gold Maple Leaf carries Hepburn’s loon privy mark. The 16-mm $5 coin has a mintage of 5,000.
Completing the releases is the 2027 $200 Our Purest Maple Leaf, struck from one ounce of 99.999 per cent pure gold. The 30-mm Reverse Proof coin features Ott’s Gold Maple Leaf design with a radial-line sunburst treatment and has a mintage of only 900.
Steven Rosati designed the King Charles III obverse appearing on the October releases.