The Royal Canadian Mint has just launched the eighth coin in its $100 for $100 series, a series that debuted back in 2013 and which has attracted much interest and success. Struck in approx one troy ounce of fine 0.9999 silver, each of the coins to date has depicted an animal from Canada, one of a huge, varied menagerie that inhabits this beautiful country. They’re packaged in lightweight, but very colourful coin boxes, a step up from being card mounted like the lesser value versions.

This latest coin with a design by Trevor Tennant depicts a pair of Orca, more widely but inaccurately known as Killer Whales. Apex predators wherever they go, pods of these intelligent creatures hunt everything from fish and seals, right up to large adult baleen whales, although the latter rarely. Even known to hunt and kill Great White Sharks, Orca’s are a combination of intelligence and strength with no equal in the water, made all the more impressive by their social nature. Able to live to over a century old, they range all over the world, a quite stunning lifeform. Hopefully man will stop putting them on display in disgusting conditions for entertainment, a practice that has no place in todays world.

Availale to buy now, the mintage of 50,000 will likely sell relatively quickly as they usually do, this one having a great design will no doubt speed that process a little. Previous coins have been the 2013 Bison, in 2014 the Grizzly, Bald Eagle and the Bighorn Sheep, and in 2015 the Horse and the Muskox. This is the second 2016 coin after the Cougar.

THE $100 FOR $100 SERIES

One of the many ‘face value’ coins sold by the Royal Canadian Mint, they have a denomination on them that matches the price they’re sold for. Popularised by the RCM, the concept has since been taken up by the Royal Mint in the United Kingdom, and by the Monnaie de Paris in France who’ve both released several successful coins under their respective programmes. There has recently been some controversy over exactly how they can be redeemed for their face value should the owner so desire. A letter by the Royal Mint, along with new statements in their online store has made it quite clear that post offices, shops and banks will not accept them, and people wanting to return them should contact the mints customer serveice line.

The RCM takes a similar line, although not quite as emphatically as its British counterpart. The FAQ page on the mints website carries the following statement regarding redeeming these face-value coins;

“All coins manufactured by the Mint are legal tender. However, unlike Canadian circulation coins, collector coins are non-circulating legal tender (NCLT). As such, these coins are not intended for daily commercial transactions and accepting them as payment or for redemption is at the discretion of businesses and financial institutions.

The Mint has a process in place to reimburse financial institutions the face value of redeemed NCLT coins, once they have accepted them from a customer and returned them to the Mint. In the event a bank branch is unaware of this procedure, customers are advised to contact the Mint with the coordinates of the bank branch, which will take steps to inform the branch of the redemption process.

As collector coins can only be redeemed at face value by businesses and financial institutions willing to accept them, it is recommended that individuals wishing to sell a collector coin first consult with a coin dealer, who is more likely to offer a price above face value.”

So by all means buy the coin if you like it, after all, many appreciate beyond their face value anyway, but just remember that cashing these in at a shop or financial institution isn’t a certainty.

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