2026 Canada $200 Tall Ships: Ketch Rig 1/2oz. Pure Gold Coin (No Tax)

2026 Canada $200 Tall Ships: Ketch Rig 1/2oz. Pure Gold Coin (No Tax)

From riverbanks to horizons: Learn about the Tall Ship workhorse of the St. Lawrence. Order today!

The fifth coin in our Tall Ship series offers another window into the past, capturing both a ship at work and the people whose lives were tied to the waters of the St. Lawrence. Throughout the St. Lawrence Valley, the St. Lawrence sailing schooner or ketch typically carried goods, families and stories between riverside villages, evolving over centuries to master the river’s varied navigation conditions. With their flat bottoms and adapted rigging, these sailboats became symbols of community and ingenuity, embodying the spirit of a maritime culture that shaped both Quebec’s identity and Canada’s broader nautical heritage.

Tall Ship #5: A two-masted workhorse of water and wind.

For more than two centuries, communities along the St. Lawrence Valley built such ships as the ketch to serve their transportation and communication needs. Valued for their stability, strength, and ease of handling in varied winds, these vessels carried a tall mainmast and a shorter mizzenmast. Their flat bottoms allowed them to remain perfectly vertical when running aground at low tide, which facilitated access for loading and unloading goods—as depicted on this coin.

The reverse design by Canadian artist Yves Bérubé features two views of a ketch: under sail in the distance, and aground at low tide in the foreground. A horse-drawn wagon takes on logs, unloaded from amidships of the beached ketch, which waits for the tide’s return to carry it onward. The obverse features the effigy of His Majesty King Charles III by Canadian artist Steven Rosati.

Specifications:
RCM Number: 253458
Mintage: 800
Composition: 99.99% pure gold
Weight: 15.43 g
Diameter: 29 mm
Face Value: $200
Finish: Proof
Edge: Serrated
Artists: Yves Bérubé (reverse), Steven Rosati (obverse)

Special Features:

• Fifth coin in the series. The annual Tall Ship series of pure gold coins celebrates the legendary vessels that drew international acclaim for Canada’s shipyards and contributed to our rich maritime heritage.
• Back to Canada’s age of sail. Each instalment showcases a different type of tall ship or sail plan, beginning with the brigantine (2022) and continuing with the full-rigged ship (2023), the topsail schooner (2024), the three-masted schooner (2025), and now the ketch rig (2026).
• A glimpse of the past. Not just a tall ship at full sail — the coin’s reverse rewinds time to show the ketch being unloaded by horse and wagon on the shore ahead of the tide’s return.
• Noted marine artist. The coin’s reverse design was created by renowned marine artist Yves Bérubé, whose works—celebrated on coins and canvas alike—have made him a collector favourite and a keeper of Canada’s maritime heritage.
• A maritime legacy. Every Tall Ship coin is an expertly engraved, exquisitely detailed portrait of Canada’s past. These are the wooden ships that shaped the course of Canada’s history, and serve as a testament to a proud seafaring and shipbuilding legacy.
• Pure gold portrait. This low-mintage (800) coin is crafted from 99.99% pure gold, with a gleaming mirror-like finish that lights up the engraved marine art on the coin’s reverse.
• A popular theme. A prestigious addition to any collection, especially a gold, history or nautical-themed one.
• No GST/HST

Packaging:
The coin is encapsulated and presented in a black Royal Canadian Mint-branded clamshell with a black beauty box.