2013 1oz $20 PRONGHORN - UNTAMED WILDERNESS - FINE SILVER COIN

Theme:
Every day, the dramatic tales of the untamed wilderness are played out across Canada’s vast landscape—as they have been for untold millennia.

Description:
The reverse image by Canadian artist Tivadar Bote features a unique stylized image, inspired by woodblock design, of a Pronghorn set against symbolic elements of its Canadian habitat.
The Pronghorn, viewed in three-quarter profile, is presented in the foreground of the image, its namesake horns reaching majestically toward the top of the image, with its serene face and head set upon a muscular neck. In the background, the image of a circular sunburst replete with rays recalls the vast open skies of the Pronghorn’s preferred habitat. From the sunburst rise wheat motifs and rays of light. The circularity of this element echoes the circular field of the coin and hints at the cyclical nature of the Pronghorn’s lifecycle.

Special Features:

•  Second issue in the Royal Canadian Mint’s exciting new Untamed Canada series featuring a bold artistic direction. This coin showcases five different coin finishes each with a separate degree of luster, exceptional engraving techniques and woodblock-inspired art.
•  A dramatic approach to coin design inspired by the untamed nature of the Pronghorn rendered in 99.99% fine silver in a rare 40-millimetre diameter, to showcase the art and artistry.
•  Low mintage of 8,500 coins is sure to make this series a favourite among collectors.
•  A beautiful gift and distinguished addition to any collection featuring pure silver coins, nature and wildlife, unique and bold artwork, artisan themes, or Canadiana.

Product Specifications:
Item Number: 123136
UPC: 6-23932-04502-6
Face Value: 20 dollars
Composition: 99.99% fine silver
Weight (g): 31.60
Diameter (mm): 40
Edge: Serrated
Finish: Proof
Certificate: Serialized
Artist: Tivadar Bote

2013Packaging:
Coin is encapsulated and presented in a Royal Canadian Mint-branded maroon clamshell case lined with black flock and protected by a black beauty box.
Finished Size: 67 x 67 mm

Certificate Text:
The Wind-Racers
We race with the wind; the sagebrush parts before our fleeing gale. Together, a flying puzzle of shifting red-brown and white stripes, we daze our pursuer, exhaust her—a hungry bobcat at winter’s end—until her legs fail her and her panting, empty belly finally lowers to the ground. We race with the wind and no one can catch us here in the flat, open grasslands we have inhabited forever. There are no others like us on Earth.

We saw her first, high in the foothills; our eyes miss very little. Were it summer, we would have quietly gathered our young, hidden among the higher grasses lining the vast valley. But it is winter’s end and the young will not be here before the full moon rises four more times. A flash of white rump on a rise in the distance passes through our multitude like a shiver—one white flash, then another—and then we are flying. When we launch from our grazing-ground, even the birds are hard-pressed to follow. Above us, the cat leaps and snatches, catching nothing but dust. She follows, but knows that we can fly for hours.

When the bobcat lies still, we slow. Eventually, we stop, moving further along our broad, flat valley, digging for fresh green shoots in the hard-packed snow with our new horns, which drop with autumn’s leaves and return with the sun in spring. Soon we will rest, but not for long. Our large eyes are ever watchful, seeing the slightest shift in the landscape, seeking the white flash that will transform us, once again, into wind-racers.