50 Dollars - Charles III Heraldic Landscape: Birds of Canada

The "Heraldic Landscape" series draws its design vocabulary from the arms of Canadian provinces and territories rather than from naturalistic illustration — a deliberate curatorial choice that separates it from the Royal Canadian Mint's more conventional wildlife programs. Birds appearing in this context are heraldic charges first, fauna second.

Selective gold plating on large-format silver strikes of this kind is applied via electroforming after the coin leaves the press, a post-strike process the Mint has refined considerably since its earlier colourized issues of the late 1990s.