Silver Dollars of the 1970s: Artwork to Production.

 

For a good many years, the actual working dies for Canadian coins have usually been a three-part series: the artwork of some designer converted into a large model by a mint worker, in turn made into an actual master die by use of the reducing machine. The last time a Canadian coin was engraved directly into a die was the 1949 Newfoundland commemorative silver dollar reverse by RCM Chief Engraver Thomas Shingles - and even then he worked from his own sketch which wasn't exactly like the finished coin.

Dollars became nickel pieces as of 1968 and it was only in 1971 that the first of the silver dollars - produced exclusively for the collectors' market - was issued along side nickel pieces intended for general circulation. This first collectors' silver dollar commemorated the centennial of British Columbia 's joining Confederation.

 

 

In this case, both the artwork (shown to the left) and the modelling/engraving that resulted in the finished coin (shown to the right) were by Patrick Brindley, Chief Engraver of the RCM (1971-7). We see that the main modifications were the moving outward of the beaded circle, allowing for a larger legend in thicker letters. Not shown is the fact that Brindley also modified the Queen's portrait on the obverse in this year, sharpening the details of her hair to the extent that they seem almost wiry.

1972 had a silver dollar but it was a reversion to the old Voyageur design. Even so, the same Patrick Brindley modified the reverse. The northern light rays, which had become successively fainter with the repeated replications of the master mint tools, were sharpened heavily and at the same time a circle of rim beads - almost exactly like the B.C. dollar above - replaced the older denticles.

 

The 1973 silver dollar commemorated the centennial of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (the Northwest Mounted Police in 1873). The artwork for this coin (left) was by RCMP officer Paul Cedarberg, his initials at 7:00 . From this sketch, the design was modelled by Brindley, his "B" initial at 4:00 . We see here that the main modification was the conversion of the "rocking horse" groundwork to a straighter design.

 

The winning design for the 1974 silver dollar commemorating the centennial of Winnipeg (shown left) was by Paul Pedersen, his initials below the 00 of 100. The modeller, Patrick Brindley (the B above the 00) followed the sketch fairly closely, only slightly changing the traffic pattern in the depiction of Winnipeg - at the corner of Portage and Main, incidentally - in the righthand "1974" 0. He also did a slight simplification of some background details when they became too fussy. That aside, only the beaded rim was moved outward a bit, allowing a slightly larger legend and design.

The winning design for the 1975 silver dollar commemorating the centennial of Calgary (left) was by Donald D. Paterson, his initials appearing below the bronco's nose on the finished coin. It was not so much a drawing as a painting. For the design he won $2000. From the illustration, Brindley modelled and engraved the finished die. The main changes he made was to break Paterson 's continuous horizon line, change the slightly flared letters of the upper legend to straighter ones and add both his own and Paterson 's initials.

 

There is no real artwork for the 1976 silver dollar commemorating the centennial of the Library of Parliament. The design was chiefly a model, most of the work done by Walter Ott of the engraving staff at the RCM, and who would succeed Brindley as Chief Engraver in 1977. Ott worked directly from a photograph of the Library. His monogram appears at lower right on the coin as well as Brindley's B at lower left since he did some of the modelling work as well.

 

 

1977 was the 25th anniversary of the Queen's reign and for the occasion the commemorative silver dollar carried a unique obverse as well. The reverse design was by Raymond Lee, his winning sketch shown upper left. The modeller/engraver at the RCM for this design was Ago Aarand and from the finished coin (upper right) we see that the main modification to the "Senate Throne" design was a heavy sharpening of the background brickwork into a kind of panel and a general thickening of the design. The special obverse for that year was a joint effort of the Mint staff who reduced Arnold Machin's portrait of the Queen so that the former legend ELIZABETH II D. G. REGINA became SILVER JUBILEE * ELIZABETH II * JUBIL É D'ARGENT with 1952 · 1977 in exergue.

The silver dollar for 1978 commemorated the Eleventh Commonwealth Games held in Edmonton that year. Again, both a special obverse was used as well as the reverse.

 

At the top are shown the preliminary sketch designs, that on the left by the Mint staff. To the right is the winning design of Raymond Taylor, a Toronto artist. At the bottom is the dollar as it was released into circulation. Again, the obverse is unique to the year and, again, by a special legend surrounding a reduced version of the current Machin portrait. The reverse, modelled and engraved by Victor Cot é of the Mint staff, closely reproduced the original Taylor design, the most noticeable change being the moving of the beading right up to the circular design.

So, while the finished coin might follow the original design quite closely, we see that the Mint staff might make changes of varying degree in the interests of design balance, ease of minting and so forth. Few are followed exactly .

Wayne Jacobs is a numismatic expert. Currently secretary and editor of the "Mid-Island Coin Club Numismatic Journal"of Nanaimo, Vancouver Island , British Columbia, he is the award winning author of numerous articles. The MICC journal are hosted here: MICC webpages Copyright 2006 Wayne Jacobs. This article may be reprinted freely for non commercial purpose only if the resource box is left intact, linking back to us.