Obverse. Photo © Royal Canadian Mint
  • 25 Cents 2023, RCM# 206339, Canada, Charles III
  • 25 Cents 2023, RCM# 206339, Canada, Charles III
  • 25 Cents 2023, RCM# 206339, Canada, Charles III, 6 coin specimen set
Description

One of the most popular sets of coins produced each year by the Royal Canadian Mint is the specimen set (brilliant/frosted relief against a lined background). This collection features some of the highest quality coins struck for collectors, all housed in an elegant book format presentation. Six denominations from five cents to two dollars comprise the set, including the Greater Sage-Grouse dollar.

As the new King Charles III dies were not yet ready for this coin set, all the obverse designs feature a posthumous effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with the addition of the double dates of her reign, 1952-2022.

Obverse

Fourth portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II, when she was 77 years old, facing right and surrounded by the inscription. Below, the four pearls symbolise the four effigies that have graced Canadian coins and the double date of her reign.

Dei Gratia Regina (often abbreviated to D. G. Regina and seen as D·G·REGINA) is a Latin title meaning By the Grace of God, Queen.

Engraver: Susanna Blunt

ELIZABETH II D • G • REGINA
SB
1952 2022

Reverse

A caribou is accompanied by the facial value and the country name. Engraver's initials below.

The reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), also known as the caribou in North America, is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, sub-Arctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. What was once the second-largest herd is the migratory boreal woodland caribou George River herd in Canada, with former variations between 28,000 and 385,000. The North American range of caribou extends from Alaska through Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut into the boreal forest and south through the Canadian Rockies and the Columbia and Selkirk Mountains.

Arctic peoples have depended on caribou for food, clothing, and shelter, such as the Caribou Inuit, the inland-dwelling Inuit of the Kivalliq Region in northern Canada, the Caribou Clan in Yukon, the Inupiat, the Inuvialuit, the Hän, the Northern Tutchone, and the Gwich'in (who followed the Porcupine caribou for millennia).

Male and female reindeer can grow antlers annually, although the proportion of females that grow antlers varies greatly between population and season. Antlers are typically larger on males. In traditional festive legend, Santa Claus's reindeer pull a sleigh through the night sky to help Santa Claus deliver gifts to good children on Christmas Eve.

Engraver: Emanuel Otto Hahn

CANADA 2023
25
Cents
H

Edge

25 Cents

Transition obverse, 6 coin specimen set
RCM# 206339
Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Non-circulating)
Material Nickel Plated Steel
Weight 4.43 g
Diameter 23.88 mm
Thickness 1.58 mm
Shape round
Alignment Medal
Mint
Royal Canadian Mint (RCM)

Related coins

Silver, 5.81 g, ⌀ 23.62 mm
Without DEI GRATIA

Silver, 5.83 g, ⌀ 23.62 mm

Silver, 5.83 g, ⌀ 23.62 mm