THE ROYAL CANADIAN MINT'S "ULTIMATE" COIN

The Ultimate Coin?
Written by A.J. Behul

As a matter of fact, yes...and its name says it all.

The Ultimate is the Royal Canadian Mint's very first one-kilogram pure platinum coin, adorned with hundreds of rare pink diamonds from the renowned Argyle diamond mine, in the remote north of Western Australia.

The magnificent specimen was on display for two-days at Heffel Toronto, located on Hazelton Avenue.

The one-of-a-kind masterpiece will be auctioned on May 31st, 2022, through Heffel, Canada's leading fine art auction house.

The coin truly has no equal, with a singular mintage of 1.

The reverse design displays a cherry blossom motif, featuring an unprecedented 462 pink diamonds graded as Fancy Vivid and Fancy Intense.

The obverse shows a portrait design of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II facing right, with a cherry blossom field pattern behind, and a face value of 2500 DOLLARS.

The coin weighs 1kg and consists of 99.95% pure platinum. It has a diameter of 101.6mm, and a thickness of 6.5mm, and comes in a Proof finish.

Estimate: $700,000 to $900,000 CAD.

 

The Royal Canadian Mint's reputation for crafting coins of exceptional sophistication and artistry is known to collectors around the world, says Marie Lemay, President and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint. Celebrating the talent and imagination of our people through precious metal and fine art is our passion, as well as our trademark. We are proud that our new Opulence Collection takes our tradition of excellence to a whole new level.

To create such a distinguished coin collection, we collaborated with a variety of established industry leaders. Crossworks Manufacturing—an Argyle Pink Diamonds Authorized Partner—provided us with the pink diamonds that are featured on this year's Opulence Collection coins.

Each coin in the collection is crafted with cherry blossom motifs—an homage to the natural beauty of pink diamonds. Through their intricate and thoughtful designs, artists Simon Ng and Derek Wicks truly brought the pink diamonds to life, turning the coins into immaculate works of art.

The standout piece of the Opulence Collection is The Ultimate, a world-exclusive masterpiece that exemplifies Canadian creativity and craftsmanship. It represents the best of the best—a masterfully engraved piece of art rendered on a canvas crafted from the purest platinum and adorned with hundreds of pink diamonds from the Argyle Diamond Mine (462, to be exact). The pinnacle of refined beauty and rarity, there is only one coin of this kind in existence, truly making it the most covetable piece in any connoisseur's collection.

Derek Wicks, a renowned Canadian wildlife artist, brought the beauty of the cherry blossom to life on the reverse of The Ultimate.

 

My intention was to create a work of art that could double as a luxurious piece of jewellery, says Derek Wicks. There is a sense of unity between the stylized design elements and the natural ones, and balance is achieved through asymmetrical and symmetrical placement: the main cluster, which anchors the design, is very symmetrical, while the asymmetric blossoms along the branches have a surprisingly organic feel. These features, combined with the visual weight of negative space, give the art a ‘controlled chaos' feel while beautifully representing one of nature's most poetic expressions.

This one-of-a-kind coin will be auctioned through Heffel Fine Art Auction House on May 31, following previews in Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto.

For more information, see:
Redefining rare with our new Opulence Collection: Introducing pink diamond coins (https://www.mint.ca/store/article/article.jsp?itemId=4500009)
https://www.heffel.com/
https://www.mint.ca/store/template/home.jsp

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