Description
This 2014 $20 fine silver coin pays tribute to The Great Lakes, and features Lake Ontario. In the First Nations Huron language, "Ontario" means "shining waters". The coin weighs just over one ounce of pure silver and has a limited mintage of 10,000. As a pure silver coin struck by the Royal Canadian Mint, this item is HST/GST exempt.
The Design:
The coin is struck in deep negative relief (incuse) to indicate the varying depths of the lake. This interpretation of a bathymetric map of Lake Ontario is further accentuated by the inclusion of fine lines and ridges indicating the topography of the land surrounding it. The space is then filled with vibrant, translucent blue enamel that shimmers on the surface of the coin the way the lake would shimmer under the light of the sun.
Lake Ontario:
The Great Lakes are the world’s largest system of fresh surface water. Its five lakes— Ontario, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Superior—are visible from the moon and hold about 20% of the world’s freshwater supply. They were carved out and filled by prehistoric glaciers, and cover more than 243,000 km2. This is one of the most biologically diverse regions in Canada with more than 150 fish and 50 plant species, some of which are not found anywhere else on earth.
Lake Ontario is the most eastern of the Great Lakes, making it the final gateway to the Atlantic Ocean. Bordered by the province of Ontario and state of New York, Lake Ontario is 19 000 km2 (10 000 km2 in Canada), with an elevation of 74 m, a mean depth of 86 m, length 311 km and width 85 km. It is the smallest in surface area and most easterly of the Great Lakes and it is the eighth-largest body of fresh water in North America. The lake receives most of its water supply from the other Great Lakes through the Niagara River and discharges into the St Lawrence River.
