2013 1/2oz $10 TWELVE-SPOTTED SKIMMER DRAGONFLY - FINE SILVER COIN

Theme:
The first issue in the Royal Canadian Mint’s exciting Dragonfly series featuring coloured dragonflies set in holograms. The first coin features the beautiful Libellula pulchella—the Twelve-Spotted Skimmer.

Description:
This silver proof coin is certified to be 99.99% pure silver with a diameter of 34 millimetres and a metal weight of 15.87 grams.
The reverse image designed by Canadian artist Celia Godkin features a painted Libellula pulchella set against a hologram. Rendered in finest detail, the dragonfly is presented from its right side. Its lacy, brightly hued periwinkle-spotted wings, with contrasting black dots and soft blue-white colouring, are fully extended as the male Twelve-Spotted Pond Skimmer poses delicately atop a blade of pond grass. From the viewer’s vantage point, we see the Skimmer’s characteristic yellow-lined thorax and body as well as the soft blue colouring that distinguishes the mature male of the species. In the background, its natural habitat—a water lily-lined pond—is presented in a shimmering full-colour hologram, bringing sparkling movement to the water.
The polished silver border around the image is engraved with the word “CANADA,” the date “2013,” and the face value of “10 DOLLARS.” The obverse features the effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by Susanna Blunt.

Special Features:

• The first in the Royal Canadian Mint’s exciting new “Dragonflies” series featuring painted Canadian dragonfly species set against hologram images of their natural habitat!
• The hologram technology, representing the water, is used on coin to capture the full rainbow spectrum of color from any light source as the coin is tilted back and forth.
• Start collecting this promising series from the outset. Very limited mintage of just 10,000 means that this coin is sure to be sought after by collectors.
• A beautiful gift and exquisite addition to any nature-themed or specialty coin collection.

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: Celia Godkin

Packaging:
Each coin is encapsulated and presented in a maroon clamshell case lined with flock and protected by a sleeve.

Complete certificate text:
Beautiful Hunter: Libellula pulchella
One of the summer’s most stunning sights is the darting acrobatic flight of Libellula pulchella, known commonly as the Twelve-Spotted Skimmer. Large (5-6 cm long) in its adult phase, and strikingly coloured, this ubiquitous dragonfly is found near waterways across southern Canada from British Columbia to Nova Scotia.
Libellula pulchella is well known for its spotted gossamer wings and the otherworldly powder-blue bodies of mature males. Its large, stocky body looks constantly poised for flight and hunting—a shape known as the “sprawler” form among dragonflies.
The Twelve-Spotted Skimmer’s four long, delicate black-veined wings each bear three black spots: one at the base where the wing meets the body, one at the tip of the wing, and a third one at the midpoint between thesetwo. In females, the remaining wing space is devoid of decoration. In mature males, the remaining space is occupied by soft blue-white spots. The dark brownblack thorax of the Twelve-Spotted Skimmer is lined in bright yellow in both males and females.
The early phase of the life of this and other dragonflies, known as the naiad or nymphal phase, begins underwater. Females drop their fertilized eggs into slow-moving water bodies, hovering low over the water’s surface to do so. The eggs float to the bottom of the lake or pond and there the young naiads, once they hatch, live among the leaves, grasses, sticks, and other material at the bottom for their first year of life, catching aquatic insects and larvae—sometimes even small tadpoles—as they pass by. The naiads will also overwinter in these water bodies. Then, by the dark of night in springtime, the mature naiads swim to the water’s edge, crawl up onto a plant, and soon thereafter emerge as adult dragonflies.
Twelve-Spotted Skimmers are a friend to humans and animals, and a welcome sight for Canadians who enjoy being outdoors during the summer months, for they feed heartily on a host of biting insects, including mosquitoes, black flies, and deer flies. They also eat more benign flying insects, including flying ants, moths, butterflies, and mayflies. They are highly effective hunters who are known to be extremely territorial about their hunting grounds. Males will compete for territorial claims by executing complex flight-pattern contests.
This glorious dragonfly dazzles nature lovers and backyard watchers from early summer to late August.