The Royal Canadian Mint has once again rolled out an unannounced bullion coin. Most of the 1.5-ounce Arctic fox coins went to Lear Capital of Los Angeles. The 2014-dated coin has a face value of $8 and a purity of .9999. The coin is slightly larger and substantially thicker than one-ounce coins, with a diameter of 37.5 millimetres and thickness of 4.5 mm. The artist is Maurice Gervais, whose initials MG are shown on the reverse beside the Arctic fox.
Lear describes it as an exclusive coin, but the issues are also available in the Canadian market. In this case, the coin is being sold online by several Canadian dealers with asking prices ranging from $47.29 to more than $470. It is also offered in tubes of 15 coins and investor boxes of 300. Bullion products are not sold directly by the Royal Canadian Mint, a practice that extends to semi-bullion coins such as this.
This coin is the second 1.5-ounce silver bullion piece issued in this manner. A year ago, a 1.5-ounce polar bear coin was produced for U.S. bullion dealer Goldline Industries.
Ironically, there is some confusion on the details of the coin, as several online sources have an image of the coin as a $5 one-ounce item.
Earlier this year, the Mint also issued exclusive versions of the Devil’s Brigade $5 gold and silver coins for the U.S. market. The exclusive versions, also sold by Goldline, were $2 denominations. Scott Carter, chief executive officer for Lear, is a former Goldline executive.
The new coin is substantially different than the $20 silver Arctic fox coin issued earlier this year by the Mint.
The coin is the subject of an online video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbHxD9Oeau4.