Christian’s coin sells out in record time
BURLINGTON, ON—Jason Bouwman always wanted to illustrate the cover of Time magazine. For now, he'll have to be content with having illustrated the fastest selling silver dollar in Royal Canadian Mint history.
Bouwman's 2011 silver coin depicts a boy on a peaceful canoe ride, reaching his hand to touch the water. But instead of a mirror image, the boy reaches into the reflection of a native voyageur, paddling a goods-laden canoe.
It isn't the first coin that Bouwman has worked on. The founder of a Burlington area design studio, and a member of the Canadian Christian Business Federation, Bouwman has been an illustrator and designer for 15 years. His previous work includes designs of the 2009 and 2010 special edition proof silver dollars, a series of circulation quarters for the 2010 Winter Olympics and a series of gold-plated $3 coins depicting wildlife conservation.
Bouwman began his research for the 2011 coin after receiving a creative brief from the Mint. The project needed to examine the history of Canadian waterway usage, from transportation and exploration to sustenance and leisure.
"I looked at what the Mint had done in the past," says Bouwman. "The idea came from an early [1935] silver dollar that had a canoe on it. I hadn't seen any current version of a canoe coin."
In his blog, Bouwman gives some credit for the design to his brother, Tom; "He was the one who took me on my first canoe trip, taught me to paddle and introduced me to the work of other paddlers like Bill Mason, James Raffan and Kevin Callan."
The 250,000 minted coins featuring the canoe image sold out 34 days after the design was released in the first week of October.
"It sold out in record time," says Bouwman. "The previous coin sold out in less days but it had a smaller mintage."
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