Description
Theme:
The seventh coin in the Royal Canadian Mint’s exciting O Canada series focusing on iconic Canadian images, this beautiful coin celebrates a Canadian landmark, the Niagara Falls.
Description:
The reverse design by Canadian artist Emily Damstra presents a man, woman, and child standing behind the fence on an observation deck at the base of Horseshoe Falls, one of the three waterfalls that makes up the Niagara Falls. The man’s right arm is draped around the woman’s shoulders, his left holds the right hand of the child. The Falls are viewed from a vantage point to the right and below, near their base, highlighting their massive size and power. Behind the falls, in the right portion of the central field, the jagged rock face of the Niagara Gorge is visible. In the sky high above the falls, two seagulls soar. Framing the reverse image is a polished outer band engraved with the word “CANADA,” the date “2013,” and the face value of “10 DOLLARS,” as well as a small stylized Niagara Falls symbol.
Special Features:
- This is the seventh coin in the Royal Canadian Mint’s exciting new O Canada ½ oz silver coin series. The series focuses on iconic Canadian images to celebrate all that makes Canada unique. Rendered in 99.99% pure silver with limited mintage, this coin is sure to be sought after by collectors.
- Future coins in this series include images on the Caribou, Maple Leaf and other iconic Canadian images.
- The monthly subscription has sold out quickly.
- First two single coins, the Inukshuk and Beaver, have sold out.
- An attractive coin that uses various frosting techniques to highlight and accentuate the multiple elements of the design. Note how the rock is slightly more matte than the brilliant portion of the waterfall, creating contrast and definition.
- This beautiful silver coin comes in a clamshell case encased in a special full-colour beauty box.
- Engraved in exquisite detail to celebrate one of Canada’s most important national icons.
- An excellent addition to any collection focused around nature, or Canadiana.
Actual size
Product Specifications:
Item Number: 124098
UPC: 6-23932-04641-2
Face Value: 10 dollars
Mintage: 40,000
Composition: 99.99% pure silver
Weight (g): 15.87
Diameter (mm): 34
Edge: Serrated
Certificate: Serialized
Artist: Emily Damstra
Packaging:
Each coin is encapsulated and presented in a maroon clamshell case lined with flock and protected by a customized full-colour sleeve.
Finished size: 67 mm x 67 mm
Complete certificate text:
O Canada
Canada’s national identity is much like its majestic landscape: diverse, storied, and sometimes elusive. In the ever-changing tectonics of Canadian culture, identifiers tend to reflect the nation’s natural assets and social and political institutions. Born of this complex background, Canadian icons are distinct because they carry meaning for all Canadians, regardless of where we live or how we came to be here. These are the images that plumb the depths of Canadian pride and kindle Canadians’ love for their home.
Thundering Waters: The Niagara Falls
The 58-kilometre Niagara River linking Lake Erie to Lake Ontario boasts one of the world’s great natural wonders: the Niagara Falls. Actually composed of three waterfalls, the group of falls known as the Niagara Falls includes the American Falls, the Bridal Veil Falls on the American side of the river and the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. Together, these waterfalls are among the most powerful in the world. Though they are not the highest falls on Earth, they are among the broadest, with a total crest-line spanning about one kilometre. At peak flow, about 6 million litres of water per second flow over the Niagara Falls.
By night, the Falls are lit from above by spectacular spotlights on the Canadian side of the border. By day, their mist creates stunning natural rainbows. The Niagara Falls tower over the Niagara Gorge, pounding the rocks at their base with such force that the resulting plume of mist from Horseshoe Falls rises high into the sky. Below the Falls, pressure has eroded the river bed to a depth equal to that of the Falls’ height.
Prior to the nineteenth century, the Niagara Falls were a destination for explorers. French explorer Samuel de Champlain described the Falls in his journals, as did Swedish explorer Pehr Kalm and French priest and explorer Louis Hennepin. In the mid-nineteenth century, a daredevil craze arose around the Falls as men and women from Canada, the United States, and Europe braved the power of the Falls by variously jumping into them, flinging themselves over them in barrels, bouncing over them in rubber inner tubes, or tightrope walking across the Niagara Gorge.
With such incredible power, it would seem unlikely that any force could stop the Falls; but in fact, they have been stopped, slowed, and temporarily dammed both by nature and by people. In March 1848, ice from Lake Erie blocked the flow of the Niagara River for just over a day, drying up the river bed and halting the Falls. In 1969, American engineers temporarily dammed the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls to perform work at the Falls’ base. There have also been a number of winters when ice has significantly slowed the flow of the river, thereby greatly reducing the volume of the Falls.
Today, the Niagara River is a major source of electric power generation for more than one million people in the twin cities of Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York. The use of the water for this and other purposes is overseen by a Canada-USA Joint Commission and regulated by the 1950 Niagara Treaty. Under this legislation, both countries are permitted to divert the flow of the river by specific volumes at specific times of day.
A Canadian Icon
King George VI, Princess Diana, Marilyn Monroe, Christopher Reeves, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain. For everyone from world royalty to Hollywood stars, famous authors to honeymooners, the Niagara Falls have long been a source of wonder, daring, and romance. For Canadians, the Falls are iconic not only for their beauty but also for their association with the Great Lakes, one of the world’s major sources of fresh water and an important symbol of the rich base of natural resources that makes Canada unique. Their magnitude reflects the iconic power of the Canadian wilderness. The Falls are also an important symbol of Canada’s special relationship with its southern neighbour along the world’s longest undefended border. For nearly 200 years, Canada and the United States have peacefully shared the Great Lakes system; in Niagara Falls, this international cooperation is particularly robust—something all Canadians can take pride in
