Centennial Coin, Alex Colville, 50 cents, 1967

The howling wolf on the fifty-cent coin remains true to Colville’s preparatory drawings, although the design was originally intended for the smaller twenty-five cent coin. According to the artist, “The wolf, unfortunately no longer common, is here symbolic of the vastness and loneliness of Canada, and thus of our tradition and to a degree, of our present condition. Yet the wolf is not a pathetic creature.” As this comment illustrates, Colville carefully considered the symbolism of his designs and their relationship to Canadian national identity. The simplified beauty and conceptual clarity of his centennial coins have made him the only Canadian fine artist to have designed an entire set of circulation coins.