Description
This 2015 $15 fine silver coin is the eighth coin in an exciting series by the Royal Canadian Mint, which highlights significant milestones and eras in Canadian exploration throughout history. It aims to capture the joy of adventure and discovery, esteeming the bold explorers whose thirst for the unknown have helped to shape Canadian identity.
his coin is struck in three-quarters of an ounce of .9999 pure silver in a reverse-proof finish, and features a mintage of 15,000 coins worldwide. As a pure silver coin issued by the Royal Canadian Mint, this item is HST / GST exempt.
The Design:
The reverse design of this coin by Canadian artist John Mantha is a dynamic design that salutes the 30,000 workers—many of whom were European immigrants and hired workers from China—who completed Canada’s transcontinental railway with a scene that best embodies the grueling and dangerous nature of this gargantuan project—laying track through the mountains. Two “navies” are hard at work driving a spike while a third worker in the background hauls gravel to fill the gap between railway ties.
The Canadian Pacific Railway:
The story of Canada is forever being written by visionary individuals who have one eye trained on the horizon and are always ready to break a new trail towards the future. Confederation in 1867 sparked dreams of a transcontinental railway. While laying track across a flat and predictable landscape is already a mammoth task, Canada’s railway workers were faced with the incomprehensible distance of more than 5,500 km and unimaginable challenges. Surveyors tried to follow the paths of early explorers, but the railway pushed them into uncharted territory—over perilous swamps, across thousands of waterways and endless prairies; culminating with the feat of tunneling through mountains and constructing bridges over cavernous passes.
