A few years ago, prior to being forced to suspend operations in order to build our own mint from scratch, we were provided metal from the AVRO Arrow program so we could use sections of the metal as top lid covers for the Golden Arrow we issued. As we worked to build out our mint and conduct some tests, we needed some metal to practice on during one of our many tests. It dawned on us, “Why not make some Arrow coins made from actual AVRO ARROW PROGRAM METAL????” The metal we used could not be salvaged for the Golden Arrow and it dawned on us that there would be Canadians and fans of the Arrow who would love a medallion coin dedicated to the Arrow, made from actual Arrow program metal. So that’s what we did. The metal is too thin to strike on both side and so we elected to laser engrave the reverse side with our Maple leaf, the Canada word mark and the metal description. We also provide collectors the option to engrave their or someone else’s last name or single word beside the serial number at the base of the leaf. In addition to that, we also laser engrave the circumference of the coin, which is frankly a difficult challenge for alignment reasons, a series of Arrows as if to emote a feeling that the Arrow is flying around the coin.

During our minting system pipeline testing procedures, we thought it would be interesting to see if we could take metal we have which was provided to us, which came from the AVRO Arrow program and make a tiny minting run of only 50 coins. This metal was in exceptionally poor shape and we thought as a way to honour the Arrow, those who built her and those who were going to fly her, we could make these coins available for sale immediately to assist us in generating the funding required for us to continue to purchase more specialised, calibrated and expensive minting tools. Each coin comes in a unique display and those fortunate collectors who purchase one, may have their last name engraved along side their serial number.

Price: $799.99 CDN + Shipping/Handling

Maximum Mintage Available to the Public: 50

-For as beautiful as the finest boat can ever be, she still will never rise to flight, and escape her watery epitaph. She deserved better, Canada deserved better, we are obliged to try.

We are honoured to be able to offer collectors a truly rare and beautiful opportunity to purchase a coin dedicated to the AVRO Arrow, made from metal from the AVRO Arrow Program. This metal came into our possession from a retired Canadian Veteran (VP) 🙂 and someone who has been a long standing supporter of our dream. This metal has as truly unique story unto itself. Once the order was given to shut down the Arrow program and destroy all the airframes, parts and components for the Arrow, this metal was extracted out and saved from destruction. The individual who extracted it, was a well known individual and had the skills to make a fishing boat. When the Veteran contacted me about the locally famous boat, native to Barry’s Bay, Ontario, he said that there was this fishing boat made from the AVRO ARROW metal! He went on to explain the story. The metal was extracted, then the boat was made and in two locations, the numbers “1610” were stamped into it. For the longest time, we could not figure out if that was a part number or something else….until someone pointed out that this was the speed that the Arrow flew in Km/Hr, or 1000mph. Apparently after the boat was made and presumably for national security reasons within metallurgy, was sunk to keep her secrets safe. Then a close relative of this gentleman, with the help of a tow truck driver rescued the boat and it was hidden under this tree for 50+ years. To see how our beloved symbol of Canadian aerospace was treated, her people ceremonially dismissed and years of hope, hard work, billions invested, to have a part of her land here….simply did not sit well, deep within our soul. The boat that was made, was in really, really rough shape when it was retrieved and before we discovered who it was who made the boat, it was cut up into plate sections. If we would have known before hand, rest assured, we would not have supported cutting it up.

As we approached the precious metals forming phase of minting, we needed to run a small test of our minting system and with some of the metal we have, which was given to us to use an 8″x10″ series of pieces polished to a mirror finished for our Golden Arrow issue, we had some really rough surplus that was not able to be used but could be made into coins. Then we had the idea, “Why not make a small run and sell these to Canadians who share our same values?!” To be able to process metal and convert it into a simple coin, is unbelievably hard, challenging and it requires incredibly expensive tooling and expert level skills in order to do this.  For now, we are only releasing 50 coins as part of our start up. We are in a truly unique position with this metal and our mint and we want to impose our artistic will and change, in some small way, this part of the history of the Arrow and add to it. This tiny part of her destiny, won’t end as a boat, but something worthy of her legacy. These medallion coins are individually punched, then sanded to remove the weathering caused by over a half of century of exposure to the elements, then eventually polished up to as close to a mirrored state as possible. We did not want to melt this metal, but keep it intact. We think you will be pleased. We also have taken steps to produce a coin edge which can be engraved. This requires multiple strikes to push the metal out into all the crevases of the die and it leaves us with a slightly wider edge than the overall thickness of the coin. This allows us to laser engrave a ring of AVRO Arrows around the circumference of the coin as if to impart a sensation of flight or a flock of birds circling and protecting a baby bird as this coin metaphorically represents. We also added a white ring on both faces to reference her brilliant white colour.

The coin comes in a capsule which is fastened to a piece of acrylic glass with heavy duty, double sided tape, the glass which has been cut, shaped, polished, is printed on the back with the photograph of the Arrow roll out. (That photo was originally black and white but we colourised it and it took a couple days to get it right. We love this photograph so much that in fact we have that image printed onto our wall and its 10 feet tall.) We printed the history of the metal onto high quality stock and then bonded it onto the back of the acrylic and the result is that the coin is floating above the image and it is very lovely for a display unit. Until now, we have exclusively shipped our coins in a hinged box, inside a box, inside a carton and we felt that for something like this, we needed to invest the time to make a beautiful and space efficient display for the coin. Not too large, not too small, but suitably perfect. We also made it for the first time, a way to easily remove the top of the capsule, thank you to Mike for the idea and we printed a custom sticker we applied to the ribbon of “Remove before Flight”. We also have used our laser engraving systems to apply a white ring around the circumference of the coin and a white maple leaf at the bottom. She’s an “All Canadian Bird!”.