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5 Dollars - Elizabeth II Polar Bear
| Issuer | Royal Canadian Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 2018 |
| Type | Non-circulating coin |
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| Obverse description | Right-facing effigy of Queen Elizabeth II as depicted at approximately 77 years of age, rendered in high relief after the portrait by Susan Taylor. The Queen is shown bare-headed, wearing a necklace and earrings, with fine detail in the hair and facial features. The obverse legend encircles the effigy, reading ELIZABETH II D•G•REGINA, with the denomination 5 DOLLARS also appearing in the field. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is depicted standing on ice floes, its head raised and mouth open in a roaring posture, facing right, rendered in fine sculptural relief. The animal's thick fur and powerful musculature are conveyed with naturalistic detail, set against a sparse Arctic landscape with ice and water in the background. The purity designation 9999 appears in the upper field above the central device, and the engraver's initials CD are visible in the lower field. The circular legend along the border reads CANADA 2018 and FINE GOLD 1/10 OZ OR PUR, separated by a serrated inner border. |
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| Additional information |
Canada's Polar Bear five-dollar gold bullion piece belongs to the Maple Leaf family of fractional issues, introduced to give smaller investors access to the .9999 fine standard that made the full-ounce Maple Leaf a benchmark coin when it launched in 1979. The Royal Canadian Mint was the first in the world to achieve four-nines fineness at commercial scale, a technical distinction that forced competitors including the Krugerrand and American Gold Eagle programs to eventually answer with their own purity upgrades.
The 2018 issue incorporates the RCM's radial line security field, introduced after earlier Maple Leaf strikes proved vulnerable to counterfeiting from Chinese fabricators in the early 2010s.