In the mighty rivers of British Columbia and Yukon, the salmon run is a spectacular natural occurrence and an awe-inspiring testament to one’s ability to persevere against all odds. Swimming against the current and leaping over obstacles, the hard-fighting fish’s odyssey from sea to spawning grounds draws many spectators along the way, including the bears and eagles that depend on salmon for their survival. Your pure silver coin is perfectly shaped for a magnificent panorama featuring two emblematic species, the grizzly bear and the sockeye salmon, with predator and prey pictured together in a beautiful river setting. Your rectangular coin is also the first to combine two technologies: blue enamel tints the water without obscuring the underwater view,while ultra high relief engraving heightens the hungry grizzly bear’s imposing stature.

A stunning addition to your wildlife-themed coin display! Order today!

• ANOTHER EXCITING RCM FIRST! Your pure silver rectangular coin is the firstto feature:
• ULTRA HIGH RELIEF ENGRAVING! The ultra-high relief engraving on your coin sets the grizzly bear apart from the traditionally engravedsetting, and draws attention to a species that is intrinsically tied to the salmon.
• BEAUTIFUL BLUE ENAMEL! The blue enamel on your coin adds translucent colour to the water without obscuring the engraved elements that provide an underwater view.
• A CAPTIVATING PANORAMA! Your coin showcases one of nature’s most mesmerizing migrations, which occurs annually in someof Canada’s scenic rivers.
• LIMITED MINTAGE! Only 3,500 coins will be made available worldwide.
• INCLUDES SERIALIZED CERTIFICATE! The Royal Canadian Mint certifies all of its collector coins.
• NO GST/HST!

Designed by Emily Damstra, your coin featuresa river setting in Western Canada, where the annualsockeye salmon run is underway. Translucent colour enamel adds a beautiful blue hue to the water while allowing an underwater view of the engraved sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) andthe gravel-lined riverbed. Engraved in ultra high relief to heighten its imposing stature, a grizzly bear (Ursos arctos) has waded into the shallow water to catch its meal. The split-shot nature of the design is a reminder of the salmon’s crucial role in this ecosystem, whether sustaining other wildlife or providing marine-derivednutrients that support plant life. The reverse includes the engraved word “CANADA”.The obverse features the face value “25 DOLLARS”, the year “2018” and the effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by Susanna Blunt.

• One of Canada’s most significant salmon spawning sites is the Fraser River basin in British Columbia, where the sockeye salmon experiences a phenomenon known as “cyclic dominance": every fourth year, a larger-than-average number of spawning salmon return from the sea.
• The salmon has a strong sense of smell, and likely recognizes its birth river by scent.
• The journey back to the salmon’s spawning grounds is arguably one of nature’s mostarduous migrations. The sockeye must be in peak form to swim hundreds of kilometres against the current, and without feeding. It must occasionally leap to get above waterfalls and rapids, while constantly evading hungry predators such as eagles and bears. Other threats to the salmon include man-made obstacles such as dams, pollution and rising water temperatures that increase the risk of mortality.
• Arriving at the final destination, the female builds as many as seven redds for her roe in the gravel-lined riverbed. The male deposits his milt simultaneous to the female releasing her eggs. Fertilization occurs almost immediately, and then the female buries the eggs in the redd.
• The exhausted parents die after spawning; but even in death, the salmon continues to play a key role inthe health of our coastal rainforests and rivers, where their remains provide marine-derived nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur and carbon) that enhance plant and animal life.

Your coin is encapsulated and presented in a Royal Canadian Mint-branded maroon clamshell with a black beauty box.

Order today!