Commems Collection Canadian: 1958 British Columbia Silver Dollar - Proof-Like

A few years back, I purchased a Proof-Like example of the 1958 British Columbia silver dollar (SD) to go along with my circulation strike of the coin.

Per the Royal Canadian Mint Report of 1957, the 1958 silver dollar was to be struck "to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the gold rush and the creation of British Columbia as a Crown colony in 1858."

The "gold rush" referenced was the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush; the rush began in 1858 and lasted for decades - into the 1920s. The British Colonial Office sent Richard Clement Moody and the Royal Engineers to the area in 1858 to develop the newly-created colony.

The Privy Council order/proclamation for the coin specified a reverse design that was "a representation of a totem pole, with the word "CANADA" at the upper left, the figures "1858-1958" at the left, the words "British Columbia" on the right, mountains in the background, and at the bottom the word "DOLLAR". The coin shall have a graining on the edge." ("Graining" on the edge refers to a reeded/serrated edge.)

The coin's obverse features the Mary Gillick, right-facing portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. The commemorative reverse design was created by Stephen Trenka.

A total of 3,039,630 coins were struck, with 33,237 of them being proof-like. As the SD was struck as a circulating commemorative piece, the vast majority of them (3+ million) were distributed to the banks within the Bank of Canada system. Coins were also struck specifically for collectors, and were available from the Mint individually and as part of six-coin sets that included coins of all circulating Canadian denominations (1C, 5C, 10C, 25C, 50C and 1D). The sets were $2.50 postpaid (maximum of four per order) and the individual SDs were $1.50 or 1.25 if multiple were purchased or if purchased with one or more sets (maximum of 10).

The coin I purchased was graded by International Coin Certification Service (ICCS) as a PL-65 Cameo. Considering the quality of the coin's surfaces, the grade is a little surprising to me - I'm not sure what is keeping it from a higher grade. (The spots seen in the images are dust particles on the holder, not on the coin.) In any case, I believe it to be an attractive example of the design and a nice counterpart to my circulation strike example.


1958 British Columbia Centennial Silver dollar - Proof-Like Example




Note: I plan on circling back with a post about the Circulation Strike British Columbia silver dollar and will address the numismatic myth that is the "Death Dollar" in that post.)