Description
This is the second coin in the National Parks series of pure silver $20 coins introduced in 2005. This large heavy coin weighs just over one ounce and features the Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve of Quebec, Canada. The finish on the coin is a full cameo contrast proof, brought to life by a highly sculpted design.
The Design:
Mingan Archipelago National Park encompasses the largest estuary on earth (where salt water mixes with fresh water). The coin depicts the four leading characteristics of the Mingan Archipelago: the water of the St. Lawrence River, the rock, the vegetation and the sea life.
Mingan Archipelago:
This is an environment where the woodland and seabirds co-exist with whales, seals, foxes and bears in an extraordinary partnership between land and sea.
The Mingan Archipelago includes some 40 islands which are part of the Canadian Shield that survived volcanic fires of a billion years ago. When the earth’s crust shifted, this seabed rose up as a huge plateau, but water, wind and weather slowly broke it apart into a 150 km long chain of islands. The limestone foundations are over 450 million years old and are a treasure trove of fossils of the pre-historic ancestors.
