The Royal Canadian Mint hosted a public ceremony unveiling the 2004 Lucky Loonie Olympic commemorative, made for circulation, aureate dollar coin, at General Motors Place, in downtown Vancouver, on the morning of August 4th.  It was a cleverly timed event designed as a send off for Canadian Olympic athletes shortly enroute to the Athens Olympic games. 

Five time Olympian Charmaine Crooks ably emceed the proceedings as the Canadian Olympic Committee representative, but the spotlight was very much on the original lucky loonie sourceman, Edmonton icemaker Trent Evans, and local Olympic Wrestling gold medal winner, Daniel Igali, both of whom spoke during the proceedings. 

Newly minted Minister of Sport, Stephen Owen, eventually unveiled the Olympic themed coin, designed by Robert R. Carmichael, whose loon design appears on the 1987 and on diving duck dollars.  Unlike the 1992, 1994, and 1995 commemorative Loon-style coins, the Loon and dates have been retained on the non portrait side of the Lucky Loonies.  The somewhat crowded new coin carries an olympic torch over a maple leaf background, with the Olympic rings, Loon, and date below.  The Mint provided die cut, coloured Olympic-themed cardboard holders in which to place the new coins.  Spaces for the 2004 1c-$2 coins are also included in the holders.  Many people, especially children, took advantage of the opportunity to have the five Olympic Gold and Silver medal winning athletes in attendance sign their coin folders.

Kelly Bechard, from the Olympic gold medal winning ice hockey team, at Salt Lake City, that may have benefited from Trent Evans' original lucky loonie, spoke on behalf of the Royal Bank, a distributor of this coin.  Kelly donned skates, and grabbed a stick, to assist in a ceremonial face off at center ice, just before Trent Evans removed the new lucky loonie from the center ice circle at General Motors Place, a likely venue for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

Trent Evans recounted the story of how he got to the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, when participating N.H.L. players asked that he help prepare the ice for the Olympic Hockey games. Trent discovered the center ice circle was missing at the hockey rink there, and decided to hide a Canadian dime in it for luck as he prepared the ice. Thinking bigger, he buried a loon dollar instead. Both Canada's Men's and Women's Ice Hockey teams went on to win gold and the legend of the lucky loonie was born.  That loonie ended up in the Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame. Will Trent keep the puck and coin from the new Lucky Loonie launch or are they destined for the Hall of Fame as well?

The other Olympians being recognized and signing autographs were:

Robert Esmie, a 1996 Gold Medallist in the 4 x 100 Relay, and Janice Birch, then named Janice Bremner, who won a Silver Medal at the 1996 Olympics in sychronized swimming.  The athletes were well spoken and patient with autograph and photo seekers.  The aspiring medallists seemed genuinely pleased with the new coins and Daniel Igali promised to string one around his neck, next to his medal, when he mounts the Olympic podium in Athens.

Mintmaster David Dingwall was on hand to announce that the Mint intends to present each Canadian Olympic team member with their own new lucky loonie, from the mintage of 6,000,000 pieces.  His autograph was popular with coin collectors as well.

The new Olympic Dollar coins caught most institutions, coin collectors, dealers, and distributors by surprise, and collectors may have to move quickly to find examples.  A colourized, sterling silver boxed version is planned in a mintage of only 20,000 pieces.  Watch for coins with the colour shifted or even extra colour lines.

An uncirculated collector version is being offered in a card holder, smaller than the one offered at the coin launch, from which some of the proceeds will go to a new Go Canada Go fund to help Canadian Olympic athletes. The Royal Bank fundraises for their own Olympic Athletes program. While Lucky Loonies were available at face value at the Vancouver launch, the Royal Canadian Mint sells specially wrapped rolls for $34.95 for 25 coins.

The Lucky Loonie Launch in Vancouver was a good event that could have been greater. More advance publicity would have yielded a bigger crowd to fill General Motors Place and inspire more coin and Olympic dream chasers.

Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia are hosting the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

See more pictures of the unveiling event.

Buy the uncirculated official Mint pack

Newsletter #58
Bank of Canada Unveils new Bill Reid $20 Banknote

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