2013 1/2oz $10 DREAMCATCHER FINE SILVER HOLOGRAM COIN (NO OUTER SLEEVE)

Product Specifications:
Face Value: 10 dollars
Mintage: 10, 000
Composition: 99.99% fine silver
Weight (g): 15.87
Diameter (mm): 34
Edge: Serrated
Finish: Proof
Certificate: Serialized
Artist: Darlene Gait

Advertising Date: June 4, 2013
Launch Date: June 11, 2013

Packaging:
Coin is encapsulated and presented in a Royal Canadian Mint-branded maroon clamshell case, no black outer beauty box.
Finished Packaging Size:
67 mm x 67 mm

Complete Certificate Text:
Ancient Legend, Modern Art: The Dream Catcher

The weaving craft of the spider and the related mythology of the dream catcher are found in several Canadian First Nations traditions. According to Ojibwe custom, mothers and grandmothers weave dream catchers for their children in appreciation for Asibikaashi (Spider Woman), who helps to bring the sun of a new day to her people. The dream catcher, which imitates the intricate weaving of a spider’s web within a willow hoop, functions to catch bad dreams and thoughts while letting good dreams pass through the hole at the web’s centre. The good dreams then slides down the dangling feathers at the hoop’s base and into the mind of the dreamer. The bad dreams, trapped in the web, evaporate with the first light of dawn. In addition to feathers, traditional dream catchers are decorated with sacred items and items symbolic of personal power, including handmade beads and arrowheads. While the precise origins of the dream catcher legend are difficult to pinpoint, the image of the dream catcher has become for some North American first peoples an iconic identifying symbol of First Nations culture.

West Coast Dream Catcher
Handmade dream catchers from the west coast, are created with willow branches gathered from one of our many rain forests. They are often decorated with beautiful stones or beads and actually have a very spiritual meaning.

The one I have created here is fashioned with willow branches and leather strips, and bears in its center a green/blue opal. This opal was found, most likely, North of Princeton or along Barnes Creek in Ashcroft, British Columbia. The smaller stones are quartz, which is believed to catch the bad dreams. They are adhered to the sinew thread, which resembles a spider web to some people. The feathers hanging from the leather strips come from the many wild birds near Victoria, B.C.
--Canadian Artist and Coin Designer, Darlene Gait