Panmure Island lighthouse to be featured on $10 coin from Canadian Mint

The Panmure Island lighthouse will soon be "lighting up" a new $10 fine silver coin from the Royal Canadian Mint, celebrating Canada's 150th birthday.

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The Mint has partnered with Canadian Geographic magazine to create theseries of 13 coins one from eachprovinceand territory.

The coins feature images from Canadian Geographic, which has a photography club and a huge archives. The photo ofPanmure Island was shot by photographer Robert Hamilton.

"We had a very tough job of selecting just 13 to make up this collection but we're very pleased with the variety that we've come up with," said Alex Reeves, senior manager of communications at the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa.

The Panmure lighthouse is one of two coins featuring a lighthouse. The other is Peggy's Cove from Nova Scotia.

'I was really tickled'

While the selection may have been tough for the staff of the Mint, it's a no-brainer according to folks atthe Panmure Island lighthouse.

"We are just an iconic P.E.I. scene,"exclaimed Jackie Brown, a member of thePanmureIsland Lighthouse Association. "We've got the lighthouse, the beach,the cliffs you can't ask for anything better,"

"I was really tickled. We were all really pleased."

Brown said she wasn't surprised at the choice saying, "That beautiful shot with the sky and the cliffs and the sand and the beach" is featured in P.E.I. tourism campaigns.

New colouring technology

The series of coins are created using something called pad-printing technology.

Reeves explained that there's a rubber applicator that will pick up different colours and apply them in layers to the coin.

The Mint has perfected the technology to allow them to paint on an engraved surface.

"So that we could not just paint on a flat surface but also paint on a relief," explained Reeves. "It gives a dimension to the colour and a shape to the colour."

"It really does the photographs and the photographers' work justice," he added.

Available in February

The coins can be purchased individually, or by subscription, and will be sold online by the Mint, at participating Canada Post outlets and from coin dealers.

The first coin will be released in November, with subsequent coins coming out on the first Tuesday of every month until the set is complete.

The coins weigh a half ounce of pure silver and cost $44.95 each.

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