Salt Spring Island artist designs new silver coin for the Royal Canadian Mint using 'lifted engraving' technique

Lifted engraving involves taking a piece of the coin and pushing it out from the rest of the metal, giving it a 3D quality to what is usually a flat side of a coin.

A Salt Spring Island artist has helped design a new silver coin for the Royal Canadian Mint using a new technique called “lifted engraving.”

Lifted engraving involves taking a piece of the coin and pushing it out from the rest of the metal, giving it a 3D quality to what is usually a flat side of a coin.

In this case, a howling wolf is pushed out of the 99.99 per cent silver coin.

“The technology allows for a more dimensional rendering of an already captivating night scene—perched on a cliff’s edge, the elevated wolf truly stands out against the full moon,” reads the Royal Canadian Mint website.

The design was created by Salt Spring Island artist W. Allan Hancock. In a statement on the mint’s website, Hancock says he was inspired by the many reasons why a wolf might howl.

“Whether communicating with members of its own pack or warning rival packs, the sound of the howling wolf has a purpose,” he said.

“While sketching ideas, I tried to consider what that purpose might be. By including a couple of wolves in the background looking outside the image, the viewer might wonder: Are other wolves howling back?”

The other side of the coin is a full moon, with the silhouette of the wolf visible because of the lifted engraving.

Above the full moon is also a small effigy of King Charles designed by Steven Rosati, who created the effigy of the new monarch on all Canadian coins starting in 2023. King Charles was the first new monarch to be displayed on a Canadian coin in 70 years, after Queen Elizabeth’s effigy was pictured on coins from 1953 to 2023.

The 61.3 gram silver coin has a face value of $30 but costs collectors a cool $314.95 to purchase. Only 2,500 are being made in the mintage.

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