5 Oz Fine Silver Coin - Hms Shannon & Uss Chesapeake

The watery background on the obverse is really nicely done, IMO steals the show.

Obverse

I fine it looks freakish having the queen head floating on top of the water.. looks like her head got chopped of and throw in the water..

I like the watery background myself. It looks just like the shimmering surface of a lake (at least in poboxw's excellent photos) which is very appropriate for this coin.

With regard to the reverse... According to the mint's description:

"Design
Your coin was designed by Canadian artist John Horton and depicts the final moments of the famous battle of the HMS Shannon (at right) and the battle-worn USS Chesapeake (at left), its decks ablaze and gun-ports destroyed...."

This is why I really don't like the reverse design, because the ship depicted on the left is the USS Chesapeake being destroyed by the HMS Shannon on the right. However both ships' names at the top of the coin are reversed!

To those who don't know the history of this battle, the coin appears to show the Shannon being blown apart by the Chesapeake!

What was the designer John Horton thinking?

This is the reason I didn't order one.

rp14,

When one looks at the coin I think it should be obvious which ship is which. There should not be a need to look at the mint's explanation which is probably not readily available if one is showing it to someone.

When it was first released, I showed the mint's picture to my wife with no explanation, and she thought the ship on the left was the Shannon!

Would it not make more sense to have had the names match the ships on the coin?

The design could have depicted the Shannon on the left, if it was so important to have its name presented first on top. Then there would have been no confusion.

Taking into consideration the cost of the silver coins, not to mention that of the gold, I think a little more thought should have gone into the design.

It's available at Mint web page!

Its available for sale at the Post Office web page too.

There is virtually no interest in the secondary market for this coin. There is no ebay sales because you can find it everywhere for sale at list price. Pretty soon you will see it sell for $450 like the Calgary Stampede coin at Colonial Acres.