The 1949 silver dollar issue is considered by me, and many others to be the most beautiful of all Canadian circulating coins.
I’m maybe more than a little biased being that I was born in Newfoundland and lived there until my late teens (and no it never leaves your blood).
This coin was issued as the third commemorative in the silver dollars series to mark the entry of Newfoundland into the Confederation. The reverse shows “The Matthew”, the ship in which John Cabot is thought to have discovered the island in 1497.
Below the waves is inscribed the Latin phrase FLOREAT TERRA NOVA (May the new found land flourish).
Thomas Shingles
This remarkable piece was designed and engraved by Thomas Shingles, Chief Engraver of the Royal Canadian Mint. The creation by Shingles of this beautiful design becomes even more remarkable when it is realized that it was engraved actual coin size directly in steel, and entirely by hand. The more usual method at the time was to make a large plaster model that was then reduced to coin size by the use of a pantograph-like engraving machine. Today of course everything is done with computers.
~ Gene Simms
Specification:
Obverse Design: T. Humphrey Paget
Reverse Design: Thomas Shingles
Obverse Legend: GEORGIVS VI DEI GRATIA REX
Reverse Legend: CANADA / FLOREAT TERRA NOVA / 1949 / DOLLAR
Diameter: 36.00 mm
Weight: 23.327 grams
Composition: .800 silver, .200 copper
Edge: reeded
Mintage: 627,000
Coin Pictures compliments of ebay.
Thomas Shingles picture compliments of the Library and Archives Canada.
Text compliments of the Library and Archives Canada and the Charlton Standard Catalogue Of Canadian Coins.
