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50 Dollars - Elizabeth II Franklin's Lost Expedition
| Issuer | Royal Canadian Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 2020 |
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| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
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| Obverse description | The obverse bears the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II by engraver Susan Taylor, depicting the Queen at approximately 77 years of age as a bare-headed right-facing portrait. The bust shows Her Majesty wearing a necklace and earrings, rendered in fine relief against a flat field. The surrounding legend reads ELIZABETH II D·G·REGINA, invoking the traditional Latin formula affirming her sovereignty by divine grace, with the denomination 50 DOLLARS and the engraver's initials SB also present in the legend. |
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| Obverse lettering | ELIZABETH II D·G·REGINA 50 DOLLARS SB (Translation: Elizabeth II Queen by the grace of God) |
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| Additional information |
Franklin's 1845 expedition to find the Northwest Passage ended in the deaths of all 129 men — the worst disaster in the history of Arctic exploration. The wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror were not located until 2014 and 2016 respectively, the latter found largely through Inuit oral testimony that had been dismissed by European searchers for over a century.
Parks Canada's confirmation of both wreck sites reignited public interest and prompted a wave of commemorative issues. The 157.6-gram format places this squarely among the Royal Canadian Mint's large-format collector series — technically ambitious pieces aimed at the numismatic market rather than anything approaching circulation.