The Great Lakes region is where 8.5 million Canadians live, work and play, and these bodies of water are instantly recognisable on this 5 oz. fine silver coin. All the traditional map features can be found on this coin: borders, roads, urban centres, and even longitude and latitude lines on both sides. For added realism, colour over engraved relief denotes changes in land elevation throughout the Great Lakes region, where the most famous drop occurs at Niagara Falls.

Designed by artist and Canadian Geographic cartographer, Chris Brackley, your coin’s reverse features a magnificent custom map of the Great Lakes region, rendered to a scale of “1:22 000 000”. All five lakes (Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario) have a luminous silver appearance thanks to a mirror-like (brilliant) finish, while their names appear as frosted elements.

Each colour represents a different land cover: three shades of green to represent different forest types, blue/green represents wetland, pink represents urban space, yellow to represent farmland and lastly red lines indicate roadways.

Beneath the word “CANADA” (right), a compass rose indicates direction, while graticules—lines representing longitude and latitude—are painted on the reverse and laser-engraved on the obverse. The obverse features the effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by Susanna Blunt.