Off the coast of Nova Scotia, about 300km (l86mi) southeast of Halifax lies Sable Island, a 42 km (26 ml) long sandbar that's about 1.5 km (1 ml) wide. It's a place of shifting beaches, inland fields, freshwater ponds and horses.

The horses are the only terrestrial mammals on the island. They share their home with seabirds, seals and a vast array of invertebrates and vegetation. How they got here has been the subject of much speculation. With the hundreds of shipwrecks that have been caused by the island since 1583, the notion that these horses are descendants of shipwrecked cargo is irresistible.

Truth is, horses were deliberately being sent to the island to graze. The first ancestors of the current herd can be

Until the early 1900's, small shipments of other types of domesticated horses were occasionally brought to the island in the hopes that a profitable new breed would result. Left to their own devices, it wasn't long before the horses rediscoeredtheir natural order of social herds. Today, there are about 45 herds of wild horses with between 2 to 10 members in each.

The stamps are engravings by Jorge Peral inspired from a photo Paul Illsley. They are printed in six colour lithography with two additional steel engraved colours. Special security features and phosphor tagging are incorporated as part of the printing process. One of the stamps has a cancell overprint designating the day of issue, March 8, 2006, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The coin

Designed by artist Christie Paquet, the drawing depicts a wild horse and foal from the same photograph by Paul Illsley.

The coin has a diameter of 38 mm and is 28 gm of 99.99% pure silver. Face value is $5 and mintage is limited to 25,555.

The set is packaged in a handsome wood presentation case.

$59.95 CDN

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