The fourth and last of the Royal Canadian Mints ‘Birds of Prey’ silver bullion coins has now been launched. Designed to offer a limited run alternative to the Silver Maple Leaf, one of the world’s most popular bullion coins, interest in these coins as been very high since the debut of the first six-coin series called Canadian Wildlife back in 2011 than ran for three years. Obviously by ‘limited run’ we’re talking comparitively with the huge-selling Maple. At one-million units twice per year, it’s only in this context that any of the wildlife bullion coins could ever be seen as limited.

Popularity has continued on through the Birds of Prey series. All designed by Emily Damstra, the first release came out last February and featured the Peregrine Falcon. This was followed up in August with a superb Bald Eagle design. The third coin to be released depicted the Red-Tailed Kite and this last one shows a Great Horned Owl in full flight.

These are all pretty coins, far superior to the ever dull Maple Leaf (the earlier designs can be seen below right), and this owl coin especially so. Sold in the usual tubes and monster boxes, these join the ‘limited’ Perth Mint specials like the Saltwater Crocodile and Funnel-Web Spider as attractive buys as long as the premium over the spot price isn’t too high. Milk-spots on these continue to be an issue for collectors, less so for stackers, but it does seem as if this is a problem that instead of going away, is actually spreading with some recent Perth Mint bullion releases suffering to some degree. Proof versions of the coins usually appear sooner or later.