Description
This 2011 $20 pure silver coin is the fourth in the Royal Canadian Mint’s popular series of coloured maple leaves featuring crystal raindrops. Mintage is limited to 10,000 coins. HST/GST exempt.
The Design:
This is engraved and further enhanced with a colourful Bigleaf Maple leaf design and a Swarovski Element crystal drop.
The Bigleaf:
The Bigleaf is one of the largest and fastest-growing maple trees in Canada. Reaching heights of up to thirty metres, this elegant specimen is well named: its shiny, dark green, five-lobed leaves measure up to thirty centimetres across—by far the largest leaves of any maple in Canada.
When this proud western native tree grows in the humid, crowded Pacific forest, it can often be found with its bark and branches draped in epiphytic moss and ferns—lending a spirit of enchantment to its majestic silhouette.
In early spring, tiny yellow-green flowers hang in clusters at its twig-ends. These sweet, edible delights attract deer and other animals to the saplings. The flower is soon followed by fruit: a pair of graceful, furry, winged seeds (samaras).
Coastal aboriginal peoples have long been attracted to the tree for its savoury sap, sweet flowers, and close-grained hardwood.
