After the launch of a wide range of Superman v Batman: Dawn of Justice movie coins a few days ago, the Royal Canadian Mint have now released the rest of their months output. There’s a mix of single coins which we’ll look at below, and the launch of several new subscription sets which we’ll feature tomorrow.

First up is the latest in the hit Venetian Glass series. Featuring hand-blown representations of animals mounted to the coins reverse face, each of the Murano glass creatures is quite unique. This is the sixth coin to be released in this series, last years being a glass turtle, and it looks set to maintain the popularity that’s been enjoyed by this innovative range. Sells for $149.95 CAD.

Next up is Geometry in Art, a five-coin series of which the Caribou is the third. Following on from the Loon and the Polar Bear, this 7,500 mintage coin sells for a touch under $100. A different approach to coin art with their faceted design, these are an interesting piece of work.

Lastly there’s the pretty Celebration of Spring: Cherry Blossoms. A fairly standard affair, the 23g proof silver coin is a perfect example of how colour can enhance a design. Limited to 6,500 pieces, the coin sells for $64.95 and deserves to do well. Like the other coins, this one is available to order now.

2016 VENETIAN GLASS SNAIL

Nature is a source of endless fascination. This enchanting new series brings you some of its tiniest creatures with the added charm of handcrafted Venetian glass. Each snail is unique, and is further enhanced by the coin’s classic engraving and meticulous colour.

DESIGN: Designed by Canadian artist Maurice Gervais, your coin captures the delicate beauty of a snail in the Canadian landscape. The use of paint over engraving adds a life-like quality to the branch and leaves of a mountain maple (Acer spicatum). With its saw-toothed edges, the leaf looms large in the background, allowing for a size comparison of the coloured Venetian glass element that beautifully recreates the colours and likeness of a snail with its spiral shell. No two glass pieces are alike—each one is unique and handcrafted by master glassmaker Giuliano Donaggio of Murano, Italy which makes each coin a “little” masterpiece in its own right.

PACKAGING: Your coin is encapsulated and presented in a Royal Canadian Mint-branded maroon clamshell with a black beauty box.

SPECIFICATION

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION WEIGHT DIAMETER FINISH MINTAGE BOX / COA
$20 CANADIAN 0.9999 SILVER 31.39 g 38.0 mm PROOF 12,500 YES / YES

2016 GEOMETRY IN ART: CARIBOU

A mighty northern resident and a Canadian icon, the caribou (Rangifer tarandus) is perfectly at home in the Canadian boreal forest that is so artfully depicted in the coin’s reverse. In the stillness of a cold evening, two caribou and the first snowfall of the season offer the only movement along the tranquil landscape. As is characteristic of low poly art, the rich colour variants add a remarkable vibrancy to the powerful wilderness portrait by recreating light and shadows, which soften the polygons to give a curvature to the caribou’s build and soft waves along the river that stretches from side to side.

DESIGN: Designed by Canadian artist Calder Moore, this coin uses “low poly” art, the same technique at the heart of the video game industry. Here, multiple polygon shapes come together to form two caribou making their way across a shallow river in the boreal forest. Amazing sculpting techniques and contrasting finishes define each individual polygon, while the hard lines and sharp corners of the geometric shapes add dramatic texture to the scene.

PACKAGING: Your coin is encapsulated and presented in a Royal Canadian Mint-branded maroon clamshell with a graphic beauty box.

SPECIFICATION

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION WEIGHT DIAMETER FINISH MINTAGE BOX / COA
$20 CANADIAN 0.9999 SILVER 31.83 g 40.0 mm PROOF 7,500 YES / YES

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2016 CELEBRATION OF SPRING: CHERRY BLOSSOMS

Delicate shades of pink fill this pure silver coin to breathtaking effect. The springtime blossom of the cherry tree is an ancient symbol in Japanese culture that has long been celebrated in poetry and art—and continues to inspire cross-cultural festivals to this day. Vancouver’s famous Cherry Blossom Festival is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, while farther east, the cherry trees that bloom in Toronto’s High Park stand as living symbols of friendship between Canada and Japan.

Did you know?

Cherry trees belong to the Prunus genus of shrubs and trees, which includes almonds, peaches, plums and apricots; they all fall within the Rosaceae family, which includes roses, apples and pears.
Many of the trees that produce these famous blossoms are bred more for their flowers than their fruit.
The leaves and the blossoms are considered to be edible but in small quantities only, since they contain coumarin, which can be toxic in high doses.
Just like their blooms, ornamental cherry trees can have a relatively short lifespan—many of these cultivars live an average of only 20 years.
The Yoshino cherry tree is the most popular cherry tree in Japan and produces white flowers of five petals in early April. In North America, the Kwanzan cherry tree is more popular, with flowers of multiple dark pink petals that emerge roughly two weeks after the Yoshino variety.
In Vancouver, 500 cherry trees were gifted by the mayors of Kobe and Yokohama in the early 1930s, with 300 more donated in 1958 by the Japanese consul; by 1990, nearly 36% of the trees on the city’s streets were plum and cherry trees.
In 1959, 2,000 Yoshino trees were gifted to the citizens of Toronto on behalf of the citizens of Tokyo, Japan.

DESIGN: Designed by Canadian artist Jan Poynter, your coin captures the soul-stirring splendour of a blooming Kwanzan cherry tree, as can be seen in many parks and neighbourhoods throughout Canada in the spring. Finely detailed engraving recreates the delicate appearance of the iconic five-petal blossoms, both on the tree and the flower-laden bough in the foreground.

PACKAGING: Your coin is encapsulated and presented in a Royal Canadian Mint-branded maroon clamshell with a graphic beauty box.

SPECIFICATION

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION WEIGHT DIAMETER FINISH MINTAGE BOX / COA
$15 CANADIAN 0.9999 SILVER 23.17g 36.07 mm PROOF 6,500 YES / YES

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