Sketch for Canada’s Parliament
A new $1 pure silver coin from the Canada Mint provides a glimpse of the creative process behind the country’s 1939 silver dollar.
As well as honouring history, the mint is making history by producing this innovative thin 5oz coin, which features an engraved representation of the original sketch of the 1939 silver dollar by Emanuel Hahn (1881–1957). Working off the hand-drawn mockup preserved in the National Currency Collection of the
Bank of Canada, engravers have painstakingly re-created Hahn’s preliminary ‘Parliament’ art concept for the commemoration of the royal visit of King George VI – whose effigy appears on the obverse – and Queen Elizabeth. The depiction of the partially completed Parliament buildings in Ottawa includes perspective lines and other preliminary elements hand-drawn by the artist, including the Roman-style lettering for the Latin legend ‘FIDE SVORVM REGNAT’ (He reigns by the faith of his people). Every pencil mark, the lines around the lettering and even the fold lines of the original paper document, have been painstakingly re-created on the coin’s reverse. Instead of raised relief, the design was struck incuse to capture the look of a pencil drawing.
This is the first thin 5oz coin from the mint, which has been struck on an innovative coin blank.
This thinner coin contains 5oz of 99.99% pure silver but is 50% larger, measuring 110mm in diameter, than a standard 5oz coin and, therefore, provides more room for the design.
The effigy of King George VI on the obverse, by Thomas Humphrey Paget, ties in with the 1939-dated reverse.
Artist, sculptor and coin designer – Emanuel Hahn left an indelible mark on Canada’s coins, and his Bluenose (10 cents) and caribou (25 cents) designs are still in circulation today.
Issued in honour of the royal visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth – the first visit by a reigning monarch of Canada – the 1939 silver dollar was the second commemorative silver dollar issued by Canada and designed by Emanuel
Hahn. He had previously designed the 1935 silver dollar commemorating the Silver Jubilee of King George V featuring the Voyageur design.