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2022 Canada $2 The Bigger Picture: The Polar Bear 5oz. Fine Silver (No Tax)
Over 25 years ago, an Arctic icon appeared on Canada’s first $2 circulation coin. The Toonie’s polar bear has been standing along the floe edge ever since, almost always alone. But what if there’s more to its story?
The fifth coin in this Bigger Picture series re-creates the Toonie’s polar bear design and incorporates it into a larger scene that highlights the rugged beauty of its Arctic habitat, where a female polar bear joins “Churchill”, our Toonie’s polar bear mascot, glimpsing a seal in the water beneath the sun and sundogs in the sky.
The $2 circulation coin design was first unveiled at the Toronto Zoo in September 1995, just a few months before its official debut on February 19, 1996.
Canada is home to more than half of the world’s polar bear population, or roughly 16,000 of the estimated 20,000-25,000 found worldwide. It is the only bear species to be considered a marine mammal (its scientific name, Ursus maritimus, means “maritime bear”) due in part to its dependence on sea ice for hunting and travelling.
Underneath its thick coat, a polar bear’s skin is black, which optimizes solar heating. Its fur is also translucent – it just looks white because of its ability to reflect visible light.
An inspiring representation of the North, your coin’s reverse combines Brent Townsend’s selective gold-plated $2 circulation coin design with an expanded scene by Inuvialuk artist Karis Gruben. In the sky, sundogs (parhelia) frame the sun as it shines above the Arctic landscape in early summer. Churchill, the polar bear featured on the $2 coin (inset), looks off into the distance while standing on the floe edge that extends into the larger scene, where a female polar bear (foreground) glimpses a seal in the water. The obverse features a maple leaf pattern and the effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by Susanna Blunt.
Specifications:
Item Number: 203112
Composition: 99.99% pure silver with selective gold plating
Mintage: 1,300
Weight: 157.6 g
Diameter: 65.25 mm
Face Value: $2
Finish: Proof
Edge: Serrated
Artist:
- Reverse: $2 coin: Brent Townsend; Extended Background: Karis Gruben
- Obverse: Susanna Blunt
Special Features:
• A creative concept! Pull back and see the bigger picture! This is coin #5 in an inspiring series from the Royal Canadian Mint!
• A new take on a classic! They’re Canada’s circulation coins as you’ve never seen them before! Re-created on a 5 oz. 99.99% pure silver coin, each coin design forms the basis for a newly expanded story that puts a fresh spin on a collector favourite.
• A twoonie tribute! The Toonie’s polar bear mascot (Churchill) is the fifth featured star of this new series. It inspired Inuvialuk artist Karis Gruben, who is originally from Inuvik, N.W.T., to create the expanded Arctic scene featured here.
• Gold plating! The $2 circulation design has been selectively gold-plated to mimic the bi-metallic look of the actual ‘Toonie’. It’s purely a celebration of Canada’s famous engraved art, sized to fit this expanded canvas and story! (Note: The engraved reproduction is not the same size as the actual circulation coin.)
• 5oz. of Pure Silver! Each of these coins is crafted from five ounces of the world’s finest silver (99.99% pure). That high silver content gives each coin a diameter of 65.25 mm (the same as the Royal Canadian Mint's previous Big Coin series), which provides ample room for elaborate art and complex engraving.
• Field Pattern! Each coin in this series features a maple leaf pattern that fills the field on the obverse.
• Low mintage! An exciting collecting opportunity for those who love Canada’s circulation coins! But hurry – mintage is limited to just 1,300 coins worldwide.
Packaging:
The coin is encapsulated and presented in a premium Royal Canadian Mint-branded clamshell case with a black beauty box.
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