This month the Royal Canadian Mint has released “The Dance Screen (The Scream Too)”, a 5 kg fine silver coin with a great design, a tiny mintage, and a huge price tag.

The coin is composed of silver that is 99.99% pure and has a mintage limit of only 100 pieces. That low mintage makes sense considering the fact that each coin costs $10,500 CAD, but that cost hasn’t prevented buyers from scooping up 90% of the coin’s inventory in just a few days, according to the Mint’s Web site.

The reverse of The Dance Scream (The Scream Too) replicates the large red cedar wood sculpture of the same name created by Haida master carver and Eagle Clan Chief, James Hart. The Haida are a native people indigenous to the West Coast of Canada and parts of Alaska.

The image utilizes ancestral carving motifs to give voice to the plight of wild salmon along the coast of the Pacific Northwest. The product description notes that the figures included–including a beaver, a raven, orcas, frogs, a shaman, and “Mother Bear”–are rooted in Haida stories and depend on salmon for their survival. Inscribed at the bottom of the design is CANADA.

The design was rendered by what a press release describes as a “remarkable feat in minting.” Dies took four weeks to create, followed by 100 hours of milling, two weeks of polishing, and, finally, eight strikes to capture the relief of the detailed engraving.

The coin comes in an acrylic box with a serialized certificate; these rest in a walnut wood collector’s box branded “Royal Canadian Mint.”

The obverse image features Susanna Blunt’s portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, with the inscriptions ELIZABETH II, 2015, D.G. REGINA, 5 kg 9999, and 500 DOLLARS. The coin measures 180 mm in diameter and features a Proof finish.

For more information on the “The Dance Screen (The Scream Too)” 5 kg Fine Silver Coin, please visit the Web site of the Royal Canadian Mint.



