Curator & Collector

The Sun; Royal Canadian Mint limited edition one dollar coin for the 2010 Winter Olympics; designed by Xwa lack tun [Corrected] The recent 2010 Winter Olympics came during a time of profound personal upheaval which the artistic events of the Games had a part in healing. To commemorate the Games, I purchased from the Royal [...]

Thunderbird on a Royal Canadian Mint bullion coin In preparation for the recent Winter Olympics, the Royal Canadian Mint released a number of commemorative coins, three of which were $5 silver bullion coins (often known, after the “normal” reverse design, as “Silver Maple Leaf” coins–or “SMLs”). I particularly liked this one, which depicts on its [...]

Obverse of the famous $1 million gold coin produced by the Royal Canadian Mint One of the most popular exhibits at the recent 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver was the Royal Canadian Mint Pavilion, which housed, in addition to the medals shown in the preceding post, the largest traveling coin in the world. I had [...]

Image of the Jody Broomfield-designed $3 coin, “Return of the Tyee” Jody Broomfield, whom I met last week at the Aboriginal Artisans’ Village during the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, was the one who created this beautiful design celebrating the return of the Tyee, or black salmon. This silver proof $3 coin was produced by Canada’s [...]

BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum photograph image from the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum The BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, which I recently had occasion to visit at its home in BC Place Stadium in downtown Vancouver, is a well-curated collection of exhibits that managed to please this museum [...]

Image of loonie with “notankers” sticker applied taken from the Dogwood Initiative The Georgia Straight, the CBC, and other local BC newspapers are reporting on a recent numismatic imbroglio involving an environmental group called the Dogwood Initiative and the Royal Canadian Mint. Essentially, the Dogwood Initiative is selling stickers that can be applied to loonies, [...]

Images of Canadian 1870 50 cent pieces, with and without the engraver and designer’s initials, taken from Heritage World Coin Auction Catalog #312, Sid and Alicia Belzberg Collection, via Google Books. The two particular coins shown above are not the subject of this post, although their types are. Terry Campbell, in the current edition of [...]

Image of Royal Canadian Mint commemorative playing card money from an eBay auction I’m the sort of collector who likes to occasionally buy Royal Canadian Mint products. The operative word, of course, is “occasionally,” for the Mint’s productions have often been characterized by a deadly combination of high mintage runs, silly or boring subjects, and [...]

Altered image of Royal Canadian Mint centennial commemorative gold and silver coins from CoinNews.net At over $8,000 and $369.95, respectively, these coins will be out of the price range of many collectors. Nevertheless, the gold $500 coin, with its low mintage of only 250, has already sold out. (The $50 silver coin has a mintage [...]

Altered image of Royal Canadian Mint centennial commemorative silver dollar from CoinNews.net This proof dollar was issued by the Royal Canadian Mint to celebrate and commemorate its 100th anniversary. The leaf recalls both the maple twigs on the penny and the Mint’s trademark bullion reverse design, while the bird calls to mind both the modern [...]