20 Dollars - Elizabeth II Marrella

Reverse

Your coin’s design is based on fossils curated at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta.

Script: Latin

Lettering:
CANADA
MARELLA

Engraver: Équipe MRC

Edge

Plain

Comment

It features a near life-sized reproduction of Marrella splendens, a marine arthropod from the Middle Cambrian period (505 million years ago), whose curving spines and wedge-shaped head are among its most distinguishing features. A carefully sculpted rock texture fills the field and surrounds the precision-engraved fossils, resulting in a more true-to-life rendering of the Marrella specimen recovered from the Burgess Shale Formation. While the rimless coin’s unique shape is the product of an old coin-making technique,the antiqued look of a patina finish adds to the design’s “ancient” look and feel, which extends to the prehistoric-looking font on the reverse and obverse.

Did you know…

• Most of the Burgess Shale specimens of Marrella have been recovered from thePhyllopod bed in the Walcott Quarry, so-named for the palaeontologist who first discovered the fossils in 1909.
• While the genus Marrellawas named after a palaeontologist (Dr. John Marr), the species name splendens means “bright” or “brilliant” in Latin—this seems fitting,since evidence indicates Marrella likely had a colourful iridescent sheen to it!
• This arthropod was initially described as an unusual trilobite. A later study in the 1970s concluded its antennae were too numerous and leg segments too few forit to be a trilobite (like the Ogygopsis featured on our second Ancient Canada coin). Marrella’s legs also differ from crustaceans, which possess three pairs of legs behind the mouth—a defining characteristic that Marrella lacks!
• There is no documented evidence that Marrella possessed eyes. Similar to a modern-day crustacean, Marrella likely used its antennae as a sensory organ to locate food in itsmarine ecosystem, where it fed on organic matter inthe water and dredged up from the ocean floor!

Interesting fact

Price

Values in the table are based on evaluations by sales realized on Internet platforms. They serve as an indication only for 20 Dollars - Elizabeth II (Marrella) 2018 coin.