50 Dollars - Elizabeth II Great Lakes

Reverse

Designed by artist and Canadian Geographic cartographer, Chris Brackley, your coin’s reverse features a magnificent custom map of the Great Lakes region, rendered to a scale of “1:22 000 000”. All five lakes (Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario) have a luminous silver appearance thanks to a mirror-like (brilliant) finish, while their names appear as frosted elements. Each colour represents a different land cover: three shades of green to represent different forest types, blue/green represents wetland, pink represents urban space, yellow to represent farmland and lastly red lines indicate roadways. Beneath the word “CANADA” (right), a compass rose indicates direction, while graticules—lines representing longitude and latitude—are painted on the reverse and laser-engraved on the obverse.

Script: Latin

Lettering:
50 DOLLARS
0 250km
1:22 000 000
Lake Superior
Lac Supérieur
Lake/Lac Michigan
Lake/Lac Huron
Lake Erie / Lac Érié
Lake / Lac Ontario
2021

Designer: Chris Brackley

Edge

Serrated

Comment

A cartography exclusive! Features a custom map that has been accurately scaled down to an extreme (1:22 000 000) to fit your coin’s reverse! The Great Lakes region is where 8.5 million Canadians live, work and play, and these bodies of water are instantly recognisable on this 5 oz. pure silver coin. All the traditional map features can be found on this coin: borders, roads, urban centres, and even longitude and latitude lines on both sides. For added realism, colour over engraved relief denotes changes in land elevation throughout the Great Lakes region, where the most famous drop occurs at Niagara Falls.

DID YOU KNOW?

If you were to chart the course of a single drop of water in Lake Superior, it would eventually make its way through the other Great Lakes, into the St. Lawrence River and out into the Atlantic Ocean… but it would take about 300 years to complete the trip!

While Lake Huron boasts the longest shoreline, Lake Superior is the largest and deepest of the five Great Lakes—it contains more water than the four others combined. The smallest is Lake Ontario, while the shallowest (and warmest) is Lake Erie.

“My favourite maps evoke the places they are designed to represent. And though I was working with a small canvas in designing this coin, my palette was expanded beyond colour into 3D relief and the glassy finishes of pure silver. The result is a landscape that rises and falls with a symphony of colour, while the Great Lakes themselves lie smooth and reflective— just like the oceans of freshwater they are designed to represent.”
CHRIS BRACKLEY, FREELANCE CARTOGRAPHER

”The Great Lakes are the largest freshwater system on the planet. The lakes contain about 23,000 cubic kilometres of water and hold roughly 20% of the world’s freshwater. With over 160 species of freshwater fish living in the waters of the Great Lakes, the watershed supports a vast array of plant and animal species. Over 8.5 million Canadians live in the Great Lakes basin. They are also an economic driver, creating jobs in a number of industries such as agriculture, recreation and tourism. Commerce on the Great Lakes generates $35 billion annually in Canada and the US. There are truly thousands of points of interest on the Great Lakes. They are a unique treasure to be preserved and enjoyed by all Canadians.”
FISHERIES AND OCEANS CANADA

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

Interesting fact

Price

Date	Mintage	VG	F	VF	XF	AU	UNC
2021	2000	-	-	-	-	-	-

Values in the table are based on evaluations by sales realized on Internet platforms. They serve as an indication only for 50 Dollars - Elizabeth II (Great Lakes) 2021 coin.