Despite what seems to be an increasing resistance to the idea by collectors, the Royal Canadian Mint is pressing ahead with its face value ranges of silver coins. This month sees new entrants in the $100 for $100, and the $20ish for $20ish ranges. For those unaware, the concept involves selling precious metal coins for the same amount of money as their denomination. In theory this means that you can get back what you paid for the coin in future, irrespective of the value of the metal it’s composed of. In practice it’s a little different, with buyers in Canada and the UK, where the Royal Mint has similar offerings, often struggling to do so. Some coins buck the trend when their numismatic value pushes them higher, but they’re definately the exception.

The $100 coin is another decent entrant. Struck in an ounce of ultra-fine silver (0.9999) and limited to 30,000 pieces, this matte-proof coin depicts an elk standing in it’s wild habitat and bellowing out across the landscape. Definitely a better standard of strike than the traditional semi-numismatic bullion coin, although it should be at five times the price. Nice box again and if you collect this type of coin, a very worthy addition.

The $25 coin has some colour applied to its specimen-finish reverse face, not usual for the range, but not the first time either. We’ve seen some super little releases in this ¼oz range of coins, the USS Enterprise and the Tyrannosaurus Rex immediately spring to mind. This one is okay, but the Woodland Elf design is definitely geared more towards the gift market than towards the traditional coin collector. There’s obviously a demand for these given the mint is producing up to 275,000 of them. Mounted to a card instead of in a box, the packaging is nevertheless pleasant enough for the money.

Both are available to order now.