Part of the Royal Canadian Mint's "Iconic Animals" bullion series, this issue belongs to a run that leaned heavily on wildlife subject matter to compete in the fractional silver market dominated by Perth Mint and the U.S. Mint's America the Beautiful program. The RCM's .9999 fine silver standard — fractionally purer than the more common .999 — became a deliberate marketing differentiator starting in the early 2010s.
The 2018 date places it in a period when the RCM was aggressively expanding its collector-bullion crossover product lines, with some wildlife-themed fractionals from this run seeing secondary market premiums well above melt within months of release.
Part of the Royal Canadian Mint's "Iconic Animals" bullion series, this issue belongs to a run that leaned heavily on wildlife subject matter to compete in the fractional silver market dominated by Perth Mint and the U.S. Mint's America the Beautiful program. The RCM's .9999 fine silver standard — fractionally purer than the more common .999 — became a deliberate marketing differentiator starting in the early 2010s.
The 2018 date places it in a period when the RCM was aggressively expanding its collector-bullion crossover product lines, with some wildlife-themed fractionals from this run seeing secondary market premiums well above melt within months of release.