I was wondering if anyone knew why the 1958 Canadian Totem Pole Silver Dollar is refered to as the "Death Dollar???" Bone
Apparently after minting the coin,it was dicovered that one of the faces on the totem pole were death heads of some sort.There are several Canadian experts on here that I'm sure will fill in the details.
One of the figures in the totem pole is that of a raven which for some native tribes was a symbol of death.
The raven is located at the top of the totem pole,which is why the 1958 silver $1 from Canada is known as the 'Death Dollar' or as the 'Totem Pole Dollar'. Aidan.
This is what happens when the artist came up with a design without proper research into the subject. Like this year's Canadian Year of the Rooster stamps are being critised because the depicted rooster artwork look like its head is missing. That is pretty inauspicious I'm sure.
James,it is a bit like the Chinese guy who was nicknamed 'George',& it turned out to be an insult.Do you know why? It was because the Chinese guy was told the story of St George slaying the dragon,& as it turns out,he was born in a Year of the Dragon,which is also me. Aidan.
Not to mention dragon is an important symbol for China. That imagery wouldn't go over so well in colonial Hong Kong, for example. The Western dragon does look very different than the Asian dragon though. Chinese ones don't have wings and have a more elogated body. Well, "George" can also be transliterated in the tongue-in-cheek Cantonese expression /dzo2 dzy6/ (IPA) which means "to hinder" or "to block".
