Description
Theme:
The second $5 gold coin in the Royal Canadian Mint’s exciting new O Canada series focusing on iconic Canadian animals, this beautiful coin celebrates the rich history and symbolism associated with the Canadian polar bear.
Description:
This 5-Dollar coin is certified to be 99.99% pure gold with a diameter of 16 millimetres and a metal weight of 3.13 grams. The reverse design by Canadian artist Pierre Leduc presents an outer polished border framing an inner field engraved with the full face portrait of a polar bear. The image details to stunning effect the polar bear’s many unique adaptations to its Arctic home, including its small ears, fur-ringed eyes, and thick transparent fur. The Polar Bear’s distinctive black nose and eyes stand out in sharp contrast to its shaggy light-coloured body. Behind the bear we catch a glimpse of its frozen environment stretching to the horizon, broken only by the occasional jagged finger of ice pushing through the wind-swept, snow-encrusted terrain. The reverse also features a stylized polar bear paw print and the engraved word “CANADA,” the date “2013,” and the face value of “5 DOLLARS.” The obverse features the effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by Susanna Blunt.
Special Features:
- This is the second coin in the Royal Canadian Mint’s exciting new $5 pure gold O Canada series. The series focuses on iconic Canadian images to celebrate Canada.
- Rendered in 99.99% pure gold with a limited mintage of only 4,000 coins, this coin is sure to be sought after by collectors.
- Future coins in the series include images on the Caribou, Wolf and Orca, and are available as part of a subscription.
- Engraved in exquisite detail to celebrate one of Canada’s most important national icons.
- A prestigious and accessible addition to any gold collection.
Product Specifications:
Face Value: 5 dollars
Mintage: 4,000
Composition: 99.99% pure gold
Weight (g): 3.13
Diameter (mm): 16
Edge: Serrated
Finish: Proof
Certificate: Serialized
Artist: Pierre Leduc
Advertising Date: April 2, 2013
Launch Date: April 9, 2013
Packaging:
Each coin is encapsulated and presented in a maroon clamshell case lined with flock and protected by a customized full color 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 multicultural nature and its geography, fauna and flora, 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.
Polar Bear: King of the Arctic
In the vast Canadian Arctic, Ursus maritimus is king. Like its homeland, it is massive— males can weigh up to 800 kilograms and females are about 400 kilograms. Although Polar Bears inhabit Arctic coasts around the world, Canada hosts the largest population on earth: about 15,000 of the global total of approximately 25,000.
Distinct for its creamy white colouring, the Polar Bear is well adapted for its home Perhaps the Polar Bear’s most important adaptation is its ability to slow its metabolism to survive lean times: its body will automatically go into energy conservation mode if the bear has not eaten for about a week.
Ironically, this massive apex predator is born tiny and helpless. Weighing less than a kilogram with very fine hair, Polar Bear cubs—usually born in sets of two—enter the world in the relative warmth and safety of the maternal den. Mother and cubs will wait there for several months until the cubs are strong enough to survive the cold. Beginning around March, the cubs accompany their mother on hunts for their food staple, the ringed seal. Their exceptional sense of smell is powerful enough to detect a seal’s breathing hole in the ice from a kilometer away. The cubs will stay with their mother until they are about two and a half years old, creating a three-year breeding cycle that helps to explain the slow growth of Polar Bear populations.
A Canadian Icon
A symbol of the power and vastness of Canada’s northern landscape, the Polar Bear is an iconic animal for Canadians. In a nation dominated by weather extremes, the Polar Bear’s ability to survive and thrive in the harshest climate reflects Canadians’ stalwart pragmatism and spirit of adventure.
