Canada: gold 100-dollars proof of Elizabeth II, Canadian Unity commemorative, 1978

lordmarcovan

Canada: gold 100-dollars proof of Elizabeth II, Canadian Unity commemorative, 1978























Obverse: younger draped bust of Elizabeth II right.



Reverse: twelve Canada geese flying right, representing the ten Canadian provinces and two territories of the time.



KM 122, .917 gold/.5002 oz. Mintage: 200,000. PCGS PR66 DCAM, cert.# 32089338. (Formerly NGC PF67 UCAM, Cert.# 2794652-020.) Ex- "Stork" (Collectors Universe), 03/11/2015.



In 1977, when I was but a lad and a new collector, the Royal Canadian Mint advertised a half-ounce proof gold $100 coin struck for the Queen's silver jubilee, which featured a bouquet of flowers on the reverse. The beauty of the deep cameo proof gold coin in the ad enticed me. Of course I was only eleven years old and could never afford such a coin, even at 1977 prices. Fast forward 38 years, and I finally have one of these proof half-ounce gold commemoratives, though I still haven't acquired the 1977 "bouquet" type I wanted. My "Eclectic Box of 20" needed something modern, and a little added gold bullion never hurt anyone, right? Besides, the flying geese design on this 1978 issue is also quite lovely. There are twelve geese, representing the ten provinces and two territories of Canada at the time. (In 1999, Canada created the territory of Nunavut from part of the Northwest Territory, bringing the total to thirteen, so think of an invisible arctic goose flying alongside the others.)



Miscellaneous links:

Larger image

PCGS cert verification page (w/TrueView image link)

NGC/Krause priceguide trends

Previous NGC cert verification page



Wikipedia links:

Coins of the Canadian dollar

Territorial evolution of Canada

Nunavut (the missing "13th Goose" on this coin)

1978 in Canada

Canada goose







When posted here, this coin was part of my "Eclectic Box of 20" collection.

NiceCurrency

"Ultra cameo" I'll say! It's like the birds and the queen are getting sucked into a black hole

lordmarcovan

Finally updated with post-PCGS grade and images.

asheland

Nice addition!

lordmarcovan

It's modern and some would consider it "generic gold", maybe, but I really like this coin.



And despite the PCGS recertification and Trueview and all, I'm into it for almost exactly the present melt value, to the dollar.



So I reckon that's not bad. I lost a grade point in the NGC-to-PCGS transition, but so what. It was worth it for the Trueview, in my opinion.



Plus I think it has jazzed up my sigline banner a bit.

Jackthecat1

It is a pretty coin, for sure.

brg5658

I realize this thread is 8+ months old, and -- no offense to lordmarcovan -- but those TrueView images are awful. When a coin is graded DCAM, I want to actually be able to see that in images. I'm not a fan or photographing proof coins by completely blasting the fields with reflective light. You can't tell anything about the fields -- e.g., are there hairlines? I guess just my personal preference.



For that particular coin, I think the SecurePlus images are better than the TrueView images. You can actually see why it was graded PR66 instead of PR70.

lordmarcovan

I did find it ironic that the amateurish, handheld slabshots I took myself show the DCAM contrast better than the TrueViews, which gave a "reverse cameo" look.



The Trueviews are still better than the old NGC in-slab pix were, in many ways, IMHO.

lordmarcovan

I also like having something with a little bit of bullion to sit on, which is pretty enough to hang around in my set yet a casual enough holding that I can always sell it around melt if bullion soars or money is tight or is even something I can hock at a pawnshop in an emergency, without feeling remorse over its history or sentimental value. Plus it's nice to have a modern or two in my "Eclectic Box of 20", in the interest of truly eclectic variety.