- Country:Canada
- Collection:Gold Commemorative $500
- Metal:Gold
- Year:2013
- Denomination:$500
- Finish:Proof
- Weight (oz):5.03
- Purity:0.9999
- Mintage:52
- Product type:Coin
Features a beautiful work of original Aboriginal art!
Part of the Atikamekw First Nation's artistic cooperative, artist Raymond Weizineau of Obedjiwan, Quebec, takes his inspiration from the culture and traditions of his nation.
"I have worked at my art for a long time, and from my youngest days I saw my grandparents doit too. I have always been an observer of my surroundings, and that's where my passion for art began. I draw, I work with moose leather, and I sculpt. I am inspired by the ancient stories and legends that give details about life in the past. My grandfather, a significant inspiration to me, would takeme into the woods and tell me stories as a child. In my own mind, I imagined the life of the Atikamekw in another time. Today, I try to reproduce these tales in my drawings and paintings."
As with many Inuit and First Nations cultures, the Atikamekw First Nation peoples living in the Mauricie and Lanaudi re regions of Quebec pass on their teachings through storytelling. A major element of their oral tradition is tales from the animal world in a mythical time when animals could speak, characters could change shape at will, creatures could die and return to life and one being could inhabit multiple forms. Even today, the Atikamekw like to describe a person with the characteristics of an animal. In Nerosiw Matcisowin, we see the elements of thistradition as it has been passed down from generation to generation among the Atikamekw.
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Special features
¥ Own a beautiful work of original Aboriginal art created by an influential Atikamekw artist.
¥ Your coin showcases the use of multiple finishes on a relatively large coin. The different contrasting finishes provide for a striking appearance and is particularly suited for this Aboriginal Story with a variety of Canadian icons on a single coin!
¥ A gorgeous addition to your collection of exceptional gold coins, high-denomination coins, First Nations art, Canadian art, Canadian natural imagery or Canadiana.
¥ Your coin is rendered in99.99% pure gold and is GST/HST exempt.
¥ Low mintage of only100 coins.
Design
Designed by Canadian Atikamekw artist Raymond Weizineau, your coin portrays elements of Atikamekw myth and storytelling. Designed around a stylized linear circle decorated with eight maple leaves and backed by a crystal-like design reminiscent of a snowflake, the inner portionof the image features (clockwise from the top) a man paddling a traditional First Nations birch bark canoe; a large and majestic Woodland Caribou with a massive rack of antlers atop its head; two stylized fish; a Canada Goose viewed from the front, its head tilted to the right so that its left profile is presented to the viewer; a polar bear sitting in a semi-reclined position and an inukshuk. Two images flank the central circular motif: on the left side of the coin, a beaver with stylized tail is presented sitting amid a pile of chewed logs and, on the right side,a loon rendered in profile in traditional Aboriginal style, its graceful neck bowed downward toward an egg cradled between its webbed feet.