HALIFAX – The Royal Canadian Mint unveiled a commemorative silver coin on Monday to mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.
With a $10 Value, the 99.99 per cent pure silver collector coin features a design by Maritime artist Yves Bérubé.
“This was an honor for me to be part of that – a part of Canadian history,” Bérubé says.
He says the design process wasn’t easy, adding it was like “recreating history on a coin”. He not only wanted to accurately depict the ship, but also the iceberg it tragically hit on April 14, 1912.
“I tried to be the most accurate possible to do that project and it was a big challenge,” says Bérubé. “But, again, when it’s something you love to do, I don’t call that work – it’s a passion.”
Bérubé’s design also depicts the coast of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland – a detail that made all the difference, according to historian and author Blair Beed.
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“Newfoundland and Nova Scotia had a big part in the after story,” says Beed. “A ship, an iceberg: It’s sorta generic to any country in the world, but with the location it’s terrific.”
The Royal Canadian Mint is making 20,000 of the collector coins, which will be available for $64.95 starting Friday.
The mint has also produced two additional colour coins: a silver-plated 50-cent coin and a 25-cent cupro-nickel coin.
According to Christine Aquino, spokesperson for the Royal Canadian Mint, different mints around the world are also commemorating the anniversary.
“This seems to be a global anniversary that people are embracing, Aquino says. “They want to remember this. We know there’s a phenomenon around the world still after 100 years so we wanted to do our part to commemorate this.”
“It is the 100th anniversary. It’s not going to happen again, and the excitement is there,” adds Beed. “It’s going to be distributed through because there’s six cities in the world that are all have a titanic connection that are all marking it.”
The coins will be sold online at www.mint.ca, at the Mint’s boutiques in Ottawa, Winnipeg and Vancouver and at participating Canada Post outlets.
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