In 1994, the
Royal Canadian Mint (
RCM) marked the 25th anniversary of the last Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) dog sled patrol with a commemorative silver dollar.
In addition to serving as the police force for remote areas of the Yukon and Northwest Territories, the RCMP patrols also served to keep the region's isolated outposts and communities connected to the "outside" world by bringing them news updates and mail deliveries. The patrols also recorded births and deaths among the remote inhabitants and delivered medical supplies.
The final patrol consisted of two teams with a total of 21 dogs. One team was led by Special Constable Peter Benjamin, a member of the Gwich'in First Nations people, and the other by Constable Warren W. Townsend. The two teams set out from Old Crow, Yukon Territory on Tuesday, March 11, 1969 to begin a patrol that would take them on a perilous journey through the Richardson Mountains to Fort McPherson in the Northwest Territories, then on to the Arctic Red River community in the Inuvik Region of the NWT (the community is now known as Tsiigehtchic) and then back to Old Crow. The patrol covered roughly 800 kilometers and was completed on April 5th.
The "last patrol" came about as a result of the RCMP deciding to replace the expensive and slow-moving dog sled patrols with patrols via snowmobiles and/or airplanes.
The reverse design on the
RCM's silver dollar features a head-on view of a dog sled team in motion. The design is the work of Ian Sparkes and is based on his painting "The Last R.C.M.P. Dog Team Patrol." You can view it here:
http://www.islandviewgallery.ca/201...team-patrol/ Sparkes' initials "IS" can be seen at about the 3 o'clock position on the coin. The obverse of the coin features Dora de Pédery's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.
The commemorative design executed on the coin is very true to Sparkes' painting, a testament to the engraving skill of the
RCM Master Engraver Ago Aarand. He was also the engraver for the 1990 Henry Kelsey commemorative silver dollar that was designed by D. J. Craig. You can find a brief post I did about the Kelsey coin here:
https://goccf.com/t/121470 The composition of the coin is 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper; it is a sterling silver piece. It has the traditional silver dollar diameter of 36.07 millimeters and a weight of 25.18 grams. The coin's edge is reeded.
The mintage for the individual proof version of the coin is 178,485; an additional 104,485 were issued as part of the
RCM's annual double-dollar proof set. The uncirculated version of the coin had a mintage of 65,295. The issue price for the individual proof was $24.50 CDN ($50.75 CDN for the proof set) and $17.95 CDN for the uncirculated piece.
I consider the piece to be an excellent example of how a static, monochromatic coin can beautifully and effectively portray energy and motion when its design and engraving is placed in the hands of artists with undeniable talent.
Here's an image of the coin in my collection:
Posted 11/02/2014 11:48 am
