30 Dollars - Elizabeth II Sea Otter, platinum

The 1994 platinum otter issue was part of Canada's platinum wildlife series, which the Royal Canadian Mint launched in 1990 as one of the first national mints to produce a dedicated bullion platinum coinage program. Sea otters were hunted to near-extinction along the British Columbia coast by the late 18th century fur trade — the Pacific otter pelt was among the most valuable commodities on the Canton market, driving Russian, British, and American vessels into increasingly aggressive competition along the Northwest Coast. Canadian reintroduction efforts beginning in the late 1960s, transplanting Alaskan populations to Checleset Bay, gradually re-established a viable colony.