By World Coin News June 09, 2010

This article was originally printed in World Coin News.
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The Royal Canadian Mint rolled out a new dinosaur collector coin to coincide with the Canadian Museum of Nature’s re-opening and centennial celebration on the weekend of May 22-24.

The coin depicts the Daspletosaurus Torosus, a cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex, prowling the museum grounds in downtown Ottawa. The mint says it employed lenticular technology to produce a 15-frame animation that resembles life-like movement.

Available to the public since May 3, this 50-cent brass-plated steel lenticular coin is the first of a series of three coins to be issued in 2010 featuring realistic animations of dinosaurs.

“The Royal Canadian Mint is proud to have once more merged art and technology to create a collector coin which celebrates Canada’s wealth of dinosaur fossils and the 100th birthday of one of its greatest natural history museums,” said Ian E. Bennett, Royal Canadian Mint president and CEO.

The second coin, featuring the Albertosaurus and the Alberta Royal Tyrrell Museum, will be issued July 21. The third coin, set for an Oct. 6 release, will honor the Sinosauropteryx, another member of the Canadian Museum of Nature’s dinosaur collection.

Each coin retails for C$24.95. The Daspletosaurus Torosus coin is available at the Mint’s online store at www.mint.ca/dinosaur, or by direct order from the mint at (800) 267-1871 in Canada and (800) 268-6468 in the U.S. It is also available through RCM’s global network of dealers.

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