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NUNAVUT
An extra gift to remember Nunavut is now available as the Royal Canadian Mint issued a collector coin depicting the territory's Coat of Arms.

The Royal Canadian Mint has issued a $300 collector coin depicting Nunavut's Coat of Arms. Only 500 coins, made of 14-karat gold, will be produced. - photo courtesy of the Royal Canadian Mint

Only 500 of the 14-karat gold coins will be produced. The coin is legal tender and has a face value of $300, but it is sold for $2,629.95.

The mint uses collector and circulation coins to celebrate Canada's culture and heritage, explained Alexandre Reeves, a spokesman with the mint. He added the Coat of Arms Series are 50-millimetre diameter coins displaying the arms of the country's provinces and territories. The reverse has the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II. Nunavut's is the 10th in a series of 13, with only Ontario, the Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan remaining.

"Three-hundred dollars is a high face value for a collector coin and it's reflective of the premium value of the coin that is ... made of a lot of gold and made in very, very limited numbers," said Reeves.

The face value has to be less than it's worth on market because if the price of gold were to drop, it would cost more to produce the coin than one would get in return by selling it, Reeves explained.

Nunavut was randomly selected to have a coin released this year for the series, he said. The mint will eventually issue a coin depicting the Coat of Arms of every province and territory, but it is not doing it in geographical nor chronological order.

Meeka Kilabuk, former commissioner of the Nunavut Implementation Commission which worked on the coat of arms for three years, was happy to learn the mint is producing a coin depicting the Nunavut coat of arms.

"That is absolutely wonderful. It's fantastic," she said. "It is one of the best recognition of the work that was done for the new territory."

She added it will be popular because it's unique.

"The motto on the bottom is written in syllabics, in Inuktitut. That's why it's very, very special," said Kilabuk.

Pangnirtung artist Andrew Qappik created Nunavut's Coat of Arms, symbols approved by the late Governor General Romeo Leblanc.

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