Study for coins, 1965

In 1964, the Minister of Finance, Walter L. Gordon, invited Canadian artists, sculptors, and designers to submit designs for the backs of each of the six coinage denominations (one cent, five cents, ten cents, twenty-five cents, fifty cents, and one dollar). The winning designs would appear on a coin set issued in 1967 to commemorate the Canadian Centennial. Colville experimented with an assortment of plants and animals before arriving at his final designs. On this sheet of quick studies and notes we see the familiar goose and wildcat are there, but so too is a cow, a squirrel, a sparrow, an otter, a crow, and what appears to be a bear. Colville explained, “It is a question of finding images which are worthy and appropriate for use in celebrating our country’s Centennial, images which will express not merely some particular time, place, or event, but a whole century of Canada, and even more; natural creatures provide this enduring and meaningful continuum.”