The Royal Canadian Mint is proud to demonstrate its skill and craftsmanship with a new selection of precious metal collector coins celebrating symbols of Canadian heritage ranging from prehistory to heraldry. These new collector products include a $300 platinum coin featuring the giant prehistoric ground sloth, a $300 gold New Brunswick Coat of Arms coin and extra-thick “Piedfort” pure gold and silver Maple Leaf coins.

“The Royal Canadian Mint values the role its collector coins play in showcasing Canada’s vast heritage through precious and unforgettable works of art and craftsmanship,” said Ian E. Bennett, President and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint.

“Collectors from Canada and around the world will find that the Mint’s newest collector coins honour the tradition of celebrating Canada’s defining features through keepsakes of uncompromising quality”.

The following are descriptions of the products now available to collectors and gift givers worldwide.

2010 $10 1/5-OZ PURE GOLD AND 2010 $5 1-OZ PURE SILVER PIEDFORT COINS – MAPLE LEAF

The Royal Canadian Mint is proud to celebrate its expertise and artistry in the field of precious metal refining and manufacturing with a pair of pure gold and silver “Piedfort” coins whose exceptional thickness distinguishes them from ordinary coins and makes them spectacular gifts or collectibles for those with an eye for the exclusive.

Both the $10 1/5 oz. 99.999% pure gold coin -the Mint’s first gold Piedfort, and the 1 oz. 99.99% pure silver coin -only the second of these coins the Mint has produced in silver, feature the iconic maple leaf, long symbolic of the Mint’s leadership of the world bullion industry. Only 3,000 1/5 oz. coins of 99.999% pure gold and 9,000 silver one-ounce coins of 99.99% purity are being made available in this exciting release.

The entire mintage of 99.999% pure gold coins Piedfort coin is offered as part of a set including the 99.99% pure silver Piedfort coin, retailing at $679.95 CAD. Another 6,000 individual silver Piedfort coins are being offered at $79.95 CAD each.

2010 $300 PLATINUM COIN — GROUND SLOTH

The fourth issue in the Mint’s exclusive Prehistoric Animals Collection of 9995 fine platinum coins features the gigantic Jefferson’s Ground Sloth, so called after the third President of the United States of America donated, in 1797, the first fossil specimens found in North America to Philadelphia’s American Philosophical Society. The tradition of showcasing the fascinating animals which roamed ancient Canada continues on this precious Mint coin containing a full ounce of pure platinum. Like the rare bones of the creature it immortalizes, this platinum coin has been made in very low quantities, with a worldwide mintage of only 200 examples. Designed by Alberta artist Kerri Burnett, this coin retails for $2,999.95 CAD.

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Royal Canadian Mint marked spring’s arrival with a strong accent on nature in the launch of exciting new coins designed to appeal to the discerning collector and the budding coin enthusiast alike.

A number of popular series continue in this latest release of 2010, notably: the 99.999% pure gold Canadian Floral Emblems series featuring Manitoba’s Prairie Crocus; the 1/25 oz. pure gold coin honouring the RCMP; the Birds of Canada 25-cent coin series celebrating the colourful Goldfinch; and the 2010 50-cent specially-wrapped coin roll.

New entries include a $20 Fine Silver coin adorned with a painted water lily and CRYSTALLIZED™ Swarovski Elements; a $2 “Young Lynx” circulation coin in a new Wildlife Specimen Set series; and, new Coin Collector Cards featuring complete sets of 2010 circulation coins available in four different “all-Canadian” backgrounds.

“Every year, Royal Canadian Mint coins are inspired by the best of Canada’s history, culture and values and the richness of these most recent themes proudly stands out on the best collector coins in the world,” said Ian E. Bennett, President and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint. “In the spring of 2010, our collector products continue to demonstrate that quality, innovation and artistry are at the heart of every coin produced by the Royal Canadian Mint”.

Below are descriptions of the featured products being launched today.

2010 $20 FINE SILVER COIN — WATER LILY
The addition of genuine CRYSTALLIZED™ Swarovski Elements to finely crafted Royal Canadian Mint numismatic coins has delighted collectors since their first appearance of our popular Crystal Snowflake and Crystal Raindrop coins.  In 2010, this innovative enhancement simulates three water droplets shimmering over a beautifully painted water lily gracing the reverse of a 99.99% pure silver coin.

The painting of a blooming water lily on an impressive 38 mm coin is inspired by the 75th anniversary of Flore laurentienne, a seminal compendium of Canadian flora by renowned botanist Brother Marie-Victorin.  Designed by Quebec wildlife artist Claudio d’Angelo, this coin is limited to a mintage of 10,000 coins worldwide and retails for $104.95 CDN.

2010 PURE GOLD COIN — PRAIRIE CROCUS
The Mint’s 2010 $350 Pure Gold Coin is the 13th in a series started in 1998 and features the Prairie Crocus, Manitoba’s official flower.  Made of 99.999% pure gold, this newest addition to a precious collection of Canadian floral emblems stands out as the finest gold collector coin in the world.  The reverse of this exquisite coin was designed by Ontario botanical artist Celia Godkin.  Limited to a worldwide mintage of 1,400, this coin retails for $2,599.95 CDN.

2010 1/25 OZ GOLD COIN – RCMP
The smallest gold collector coin currently produced by the Mint has been a perennial favourite since its introduction in 2004. In 2010, the 1/25 oz 99.99% pure gold coin is dedicated to the RCMP, one of Canada’s best known and most enduring icons. This coin is limited to a world-wide mintage of 14,000 and retails for $109.95 CDN. (more…)

As unique as the world’s top athletes and their awe-inspiring performances, every medal won at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will be a one-of-a-kind work of art. The medals, revealed today, each feature a different crop of larger contemporary Aboriginal artworks and are undulating rather than flat – both firsts in Games history.

An all-Canadian achievement, the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games athlete medals are the product of the Royal Canadian Mint’s close collaboration with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) and metal supplier Teck Resources Limited. Thirty-four Mint engineers, engravers, die technicians, machinists and production experts have combined forces to create an unforgettable series of athlete medals.

The radically undulating face of the medals, evoking the iconic sea and mountains of the Vancouver- Whistler landscape, is the boldest evidence of ground-breaking creative and technical achievement writing a new chapter in the history of the Olympic and Paralympic Games medals. As powerful tributes to the performances of the Olympic and Paralympic Games athletes who will receive them, the athlete medals establish several milestones:

• at 500 to 576 grams each, they are among the heaviest in Games history;

• with totally unique designs, no two medals are alike; and

• laser etching was used to flawlessly reproduce the unique, West Coast First Nations designs on the undulating surface of the medals.

From its Ottawa facility, the Mint produced all 615 gold, silver and bronze medals for Olympic Winter Games athletes, as well as the 399 athlete medals for Paralympic Winter Games competition. It took one year of planning, innovation and prototype development to finally bring the ambitious design of the athlete medals to life and proceed with the production phase. Thirty steps, representing 2,817 (402 days) hours of precision manufacturing, were taken to produce the medals. This complex process required:
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