• Country:Canada
• Collection:Silver Commemorative $20
• Metal:Silver
• Year:2014
• Denomination:$20
• Finish:Complete
• Weight (oz):1.0
• Purity:0.9999
• Mintage:9992
• Product type:Coin

The Greatest Lake: Lake Superior
The amazing Great Lakes are joined in a vast, continuously flowing waterway system that links the massive bodies of water through a series of channels, ultimately draining into the Atlantic Ocean. This system holds about one-fifth of the planet's fresh water and hosts some of the world's most voluminous lakes.

The first coin in the Royal Canadian Mint's exciting new series of fine silver enamelled coins featuring the amazing Great Lakes-an important and unique Canadian geographical feature.
This fine silver coin is certified to be 99.99% pure silver with a diameter of 38 millimetres and a metal weight of 31.39 grams. The reverse image features a bathymetric map of Lake Superior replicated by the Royal Canadian Mint engravers and highlighted with coloured enamel. The obverse features the effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by Susanna Blunt.

The amazing Great Lakes are joined in a vast, continuously flowing waterway system that links the massive bodies of water through a series of channels, ultimately draining into the Atlantic Ocean. This system holds about one-fifth of the planet's fresh water and hosts some of the world's most voluminous lakes. The lakes themselves are so large that they are visible from space. Amazing forces of time and geological activity formed these fresh-water seas, beginning with a land fracture and successive periods of lava flow about one billion years ago. Despite the region's great age, however, lakes Superior, Ontario, Michigan, Huron, and Erie are actually relatively young geological features. Though 5 million years of glaciation honed the landforms and eventually filled these basins with water, the lakes have only existed in their present state for about 8,000 to 10,000 years. Today, the Great Lakes are estimated to hold 6 quadrillion gallons of water. Their shared surface area exceeds 243,000 square kilometres. Fascinatingly, the Great Lakes region is still undergoing dynamic changes as the land continues to rebound from the incredible weight of the glaciers that covered it several thousand years ago. In the region north-east of Lake Superior, for instance, this rebound is happening at a rate of more than 53 centimetres per century.
The largest of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior is not only the world's largest freshwater lake by surface area but also the source of 10 percent of the planet's fresh water. Lake Superior borders Ontario, as well as the American states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Fed by 200 rivers, it measures 563 kilometres north to south and 257 kilometres west to east, and holds about 3 quadrillion gallons of water. Its size means that it takes approximately 200 years for Lake Superior's water stock to completely refresh. Lake Superior measures just over 400 metres in depth at its deepest point and holds about 55 species of fish. Its amazing shoreline in northern Ontario is noted for massive plummeting cliffs composed of ancient rock that hosts some of the world's oldest fossils. Noted for its infamous storms, Lake Superior has claimed many lives and vessels. The highest wave on record for Lake Superior was more than 15 metres tall. This vast, seemingly fathomless lake has captured the imaginations of Canadians since the nation's founding and continues to inspire, delight, challenge and amaze.

Face Value:20 dollars
Mintage:10,000
Composition:99.99% pure silver
Weight (g):31.39
Diameter (mm):38
Edge:Serrated
Finish:Proof
Certificate:Serialized