The Royal Canadian Mint recently made the trip all the way up to Whitehorse, Yukon, where it unveiled the third and final coin in its silver series dubbed “A Story of the Northern Lights”.
With local community and First Nations leaders on hand for the occasion, Sandra Hanington, Mint president and CEO, said the new coin brings to life two themes that marked the experience of those who have inhabited the region for thousands of years: the raven and the northern lights (or aurora borealis).
“This new silver coin merges the old with the new thanks to the Mint’s unique achromatic hologram technology,” added Hanington.
With a mintage of 8,500, this Fine silver coin has a weight of 31.39 grams and a 38-mm diameter.
The $20 Fine silver coin is only the third achromatic hologram coin to be released by the Mint; however, it’s the Mint’s first ever non-circular achromatic hologram.
Artist Nathalie Bertin’s reverse design – inspired by First Nations storytelling traditions of the Pacific Northwest – depicts a stylized raven in flight above an engraved coniferous mountainside and against a sky lit by the northern lights. Both the raven and the sky are entirely holographic. While the raven flies with its wings fully outstretched in the centre of the field, the lower part of the image is engraved in silver and features rocky mountainous terrain cradling a coniferous forest. The sky above the mountains and surrounding the raven is a hologram reminiscent of the ever-changing, swirling rainbow of the aurora borealis.
This $20 coin has a mintage of 8,500, a weight of 31.39 grams and a 38-mm diameter. It’s also available in master packs of 75 coins.
For more information, visit mint.ca.