Rather slow around here the past few days, and raining where I am today. So, I pulled out a post I had drafted some time ago and finished it.
Here are a few "Did you know?" factoids about my favorite Canadian coin series - the
36mm.commemorative silver dollar series.
Did you know.
- the first commemorative silver dollar to have the denomination "Dollar" appear on the obverse rather than the reverse was the SD marking the 1978 Commonwealth Games? The next time it happened was with the 2002 Queen Mother dollar.
- the first commemorative silver dollar to not include beads near the reverse rim was the 1983 SD commemorating the World University Games? The Games were held that year in Edmonton, Alberta. Since then, the majority of the
RCM's commemorative SDs have been "bead-less."
- the 1983 silver medals struck in honor of Prince Charles and Princess Diana were struck on SD planchets (50% silver-50% copper composition)?
- the first SD to feature a composition other than the 50% silver-50% copper mix in use since the modern series was launched in 1971 was the 1992 Kingston to York Stagecoach coin. It was sterling silver - 92.5% silver-7.5% copper. The first 99.99% silver SD was the 2003 Cobalt Silver Discovery coin.
- 1997 was the first year that more than one commemorative SD was issued?
- the first "enhanced" SD was the 2002 QEII Ascension to the Throne commemorative that appeared in that year's Special Edition proof set? It was fully gold-plated. Beginning in 2005, selective gold-plating on the annual commemorative SD became the norm (2015 was skipped, however).
- the only SD to feature a privy mark is the 2004 First French Settlement coin. The SD included in the special edition Stamp and Coin Set had a fleur-de-lis privy mark on its commemorative reverse. The special set also include a ¼ Euro coin from France that commemorated the same event.
- the most common commemorative design element has been a watercraft of some sort? 14 SD design types have featured some sort of canoe/boat/ship as part of their primary design. War/Military themes have also been common, being a part of 10 different design types (all since 2006).
- the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has been a theme three times (1973, 1994 and 1998), as has hockey (1993, 1997 and 2009)?
- "Sports" (in general) has been a theme used for 8 different SDs?
- the first SD to feature coloured enamel was the 2005 SD commemorating the 40th anniversary of Canada's national flag? Enamel has been used on four SDs since (2006, 2007, 2010 and 2015).
- the first painted SD was issued in 2015 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Canada's national flag? It happened again in 2016 with the centennial of the Transatlantic Cable SD. (A disturbing trend for this traditional collector.)
- to assemble a complete set (1971-2016) of commemorative SD designs in all their varieties, you need to purchase/acquire 123 different coins?
I guess you can tell I enjoy learning "the details" about my SD collection!
Posted 05/29/2016 9:54 pm
