Over the years, mints around the world have marked Remembrance Day with specially designed commemorative coins, honouring the lives and sacrifices of those who served. These coins tell a story not only of conflict and remembrance, but of the evolving ways we choose to commemorate history. Here, we cover a few recent commemorative issues.
The Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) has issued a C$2 circulating commemorative coin to honour the 25th anniversary of the repatriation of the Unknown Soldier. The final resting place of the Unknown Soldier, at the foot of Canada’s National War Memorial, lies just 1 km from the RCM’s historic headquarters in Ottawa.
Described by RCM as ‘a reverent salute to Canadian service members and to the anonymous hero who symbolizes our country’s 120,000 fallen souls, including the many who rest unknown’, the coin has been designed by artist Mary-Ann Liu, the same artist who sculpted the Tomb’s bronze relief elements.
The inner core of the coin’s reverse features a street-level view of the Tomb in front of the National War Memorial. The silhouettes of four sentries, representing all Canadians who serve or have served, appear behind the Tomb. A poppy sits prominently below the Tomb, depicted in red on coloured versions of the coin.
Source: Royal Canadian Mint. The obverse features the effigy of King Charles III designed by Canadian artist Steven Rosati.
Mintage has been limited to three million coins in total, which includes the two million coloured versions.
‘The Royal Canadian Mint has a proud and longstanding tradition of honouring the service and sacrifice of Canada’s veterans and active service members through coins that uniquely tell and preserve Canada’s most important stories’, commented Marie Lemay, RCM President and CEO. ‘We hope that Canadians who find these coins in their change will be inspired to reflect on the courage and commitment of all those who made the ultimate sacrifice, or placed nation above self in defence of Canada.’
In addition to this year’s issue, RCM has previously created a C$2 circulating commemorative to mark a centenary since the end of World War One, which also features a coloured poppy on two of the three million versions of the coin produced.
Source: Royal Canadian Mint.Designed by artist Laurie McGaw, the coin’s reverse featured a soldier’s helmet in the centre, representing the many lives lost during World War One. The large poppy below the helmet was inspired by the poem ‘In Flanders Fields’, written by Canadian poet John McCrae.
The Royal Australian Mint (RAM) has launched a A$2 commemorative in two versions to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two. The reverse design features a wreath of red poppies surrounded by sculpted leaves, with each poppy representing a decade since the war ended. A purple ribbon is also woven within the wreath, as a further symbol of remembrance.
Source: Royal Australian Mint.‘By encircling the poppies with a purple ribbon, we acknowledge not only the sorrow and loss, but also the dignity and reverence that continues to shape how Australians remember this chapter in our history’, commented the RAM’s Acting Chief Executive, Emily Martin.
The coin has been minted in both silver proof and coloured uncirculated versions for purchase, with mintage limited to 10,000 and 100,000 pieces, respectively. In addition, up to 200,000 of the A$2 coins have been released into circulation.
RAM has also previously created a A$2 circulating commemorative to mark a centenary since the end of World War One. As with the Canadian Armistice coin, the Australian version also featured a coloured poppy.
Source: Royal Australian Mint.Designed by T Dean and developed with the assistance of the Australian War Memorial, the main element of design on the reverse depicts ‘100’ in the centre, representative of the Armistice Centenary Anniversary. The central zero contains a poppy coloured in red and black.
RAM also released a Remembrance Day A$2 commemorative coin in 2012, Australia’s first circulating commemorative in this denomination and the first to be issued in colour. Since the colouring technique was still experimental, only a small number of coins had colour applied to them.
The design has been re-issued as a noncirculating commemorative since then, including as part of a set released in 2018 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the A$2 denomination.
Source: Royal Australian Mint.The obverse design features a poppy in the centre, which is coloured in red and black on a limited number of coins. Behind the poppy, in the background of the coin design, microtext contains the words ‘REMEMBRANCE DAY’ repeated and presented in 11 rows, with ‘LEST WE FORGET’ also repeated and presented in 11 rows but in inverse order.
The reverse of the coin features the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of the late Queen Elizabeth II, the monarch at the time.
