Canada: gold 100-dollars proof of Elizabeth II, Canadian Unity commemorative, 1978

Canada: gold 100-dollars proof of Elizabeth II, Canadian Unity commemorative, 1978





Obverse: younger draped bust of Elizabeth II right.
Reverse: twelve Canada geese flying right, representing the ten Canadian provinces and two territories of the time.

KM 122, .917 gold/.5002 oz. Mintage: 200,000. PCGS PR66 DCAM, cert.#32089338. (Formerly NGC PF67 UCAM, Cert.# 2794652-020.) Ex- "Stork" (Collectors Universe), 03/11/2015.

In 1977, when I was but a lad and a new collector, the Royal Canadian Mint advertised a half-ounce proof gold $100 coin struck for the Queen's silver jubilee, which featured a bouquet of flowers on the reverse. The beauty of the deep cameo proof gold coin in the ad enticed me. Of course I was only eleven years old and could never afford such a coin, even at 1977 prices. Fast forward 38 years, and I finally have one of these proof half-ounce gold commemoratives, though I still haven't acquired the 1977 "bouquet" type I wanted. My "Eclectic Box of 20" needed something modern, and a little added gold bullion never hurt anyone, right? Besides, the flying geese design on this 1978 issue is also quite lovely. There are twelve geese, representing the ten provinces and two territories of Canada at the time. (In 1999, Canada created the territory of Nunavut from part of the Northwest Territory, bringing the total to thirteen, so think of an invisible arctic goose flying alongside the others.)

Miscellaneous links:
Larger image
PCGS cert verification page (w/TrueView image link)
NGC/Krause priceguide trends
Previous NGC cert verification page

Wikipedia links:
Coins of the Canadian dollar
Territorial evolution of Canada
Nunavut (the missing "13th Goose" on this coin)
1978 in Canada
Canada goose

When posted here, this coin had been recently sold from my "Eclectic Box of 20" collection.