Canada 1 dollar - Elizabeth II 1958

The coin's story

This dollar in 800 thousandths silver celebrates the centenary of British Columbia, established as a Crown colony in 1858, at the time of the gold rush that drew thousands of prospectors, mostly from California. The reverse, designed by Stephen Trenka, shows a totem pole of the First Nations of the Northwest Coast in front of the Rocky Mountains. A widespread but unproven story holds that the raven at the top of the pole is a symbol of death there, which supposedly displeased some Indigenous communities. The obverse bears the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II wreathed in laurel, designed by Mary Gillick and engraved by Thomas Shingles. The coin was struck at the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa in 3,039,630 pieces.