Biathlete Coin

The Vancouver Sun runs a sidebar in its Road to 2010 weekly feature called Collectors' Corner ... and it seems tailor-made for this blog. Enjoy.


What: 25-cent Olympic biathlete coin

Trade value: Depends on type of coin


History: For more than 240 years, men and women have been trying to prove they could ski and shoot better than their neighbours. The first recorded instance of a biathlon race was in 1767 between Sweden and Norway, and the game has not changed all that much.

The sport was introduced to the first Olympic Winter Games in 1924 in Chamonix, France, and remained on the program until the 1948 Games in St. Moritz. It was brought back 12 years later at Squaw Valley, and has remained on the Olympic program ever since.

On Sept. 12, the Royal Canadian Mint unveiled the fourth coin in its stable of 17 coins celebrating the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This one, on a 25-cent coin, depicts the sport of biathlon. Glenn Green of Vancouver designed the side depicting a biathlete. Susanna Blunt designed the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the other side.

Up to 22 million of the coins will go into circulation through RBC Royal Bank and Petro-Canada, which will sell biathlon sports cards. A sterling coin collector version designed by Bonnie Ross of Nova Scotia will sell for $69.95.