250 Dollars - Elizabeth II Diamond Diadem

Issued in the final months of Elizabeth II's reign, this piece was released before her death in September 2022 — making it among the last Canadian issues to bear her portrait under her own reign rather than as a memorial. The Diamond Diadem she wore at her coronation in 1953 became one of the most reproduced crown jewels in philatelic and numismatic iconography across the Commonwealth, appearing on Canadian coinage for decades as the basis for the Dora de Pédery-Hunt effigy adopted in 1990.

The platinum-plated-over-gold construction is technically unusual — gold substrate with a .9995 platinum finish, reversing the more common layering approach used in bimetallic issues.