-Vicki Torrie was a lovely friend and invaluable part of the Beaverworks team. Without her help, we would not have been able to make it this far. She will be sorely missed. Rest in Peace Vicky and thank you for your service to the Royal Canadian Legion and your work with Canadian Veterans.

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So, you want to make a coin, but you have no idea where or how to begin. First, clear your mind and understand what it is you are contending with. It is not just a coin, it is an anchor in time, passed down for potentially thousands of years. The goal of Beaverworks is to focus on mastering the extreme high end of minting. It’s not just metal, but consideration must be paid when you examine it from the artistic perspective. Other mints in our experience pay absolutely no attention to this critical aspect. What is it you wish to commemorate? Why? What is the meaning behind it? When we design a coin, we are trained to literally drill down to the cubic micron and ask these questions? What is the purpose of this, that, what about this element? Every single aspect should be considered, especially within its symbolism, meaning, significance and more.

See the maple leaves, squares and tiny dots around the circumference of the coin? In this design, there are 201 tiny dots symbolising AVRO Arrow RL-201, our first coin issue. There are 100 squares and maple leaves around the perimeter symbolising 100 years since the formation of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The Maple Leaves because they are situated around the exterior rim, act as a platform which the entire coin rests upon, symbolising average Canadians hoisting up and holding true to the commitment of always supporting those who serve and holding true to the poem In Flanders Fields by LCol McRae, where the torch is ours to hold high. Can you answer questions about the design of  your coin and the symbolic representation? Every single aspect must be thoughtfully considered, because your work, your legacy is worth this.

When you can answer these questions about every single aspect of your design, then and only then, are you ready. You are asking of us to fabricate the finest minted coins in the world and these are time capsules of this meaning struck into precious metals and the artwork struck into history should have meaning to you. “With that said, where do I begin?” Glad you asked. 🙂 Please allow us to explain what is next.

Beaverworks can for a fee, provide all the design services to help our customers flush out the design they wish.

We are only interested in fabricating the finest work possible, so we only produce proof or near proof quality coins. Each coin is inspected prior to shipment and if any flaw is found, the coin is rejected and remelted.

Identify which precious metal you wish to use. Normally 1 Troy Oz of .9999 Fine Gold has a diameter and thickness of approximately 30mm and 2.87mm respectively. 1 Troy Oz of Silver will have a diameter of approximately 39mm and 2.98mm respectively. 1 Troy Oz of Platinum will have a diameter and thickness of 32.7mm and 2.39mm respectively. Or do you want a custom weight?

Golden Arrow RL-201. The first 2.01 Troy Oz. .9999 Fine Gold coin ever minted.

The coin rim has a width of approximately 1mm. This must be taken into consideration when designing the coin faces. There is a 3rd side to a coin and that is the edge face. Do you want a smooth edge or reeded edge? If you want a smooth edge, do you want an engraved edge face? We developed our own internal methods for engraving the complete edge face. The design of this, if you elect to proceed, must conform to the geometry of the thickness of the coin and circumference. When this design is made, you want to ensure there is enough of a margin to allow for proper positioning.

Once the metal has been selected, you have to design the coin itself and using a vector based design tool like Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop is recommended. Once the coin design faces have been locked and clients sign off on this design, the next phase is the sculpting phase. Depending on the circumstances, either our leader Joseph Green who is an expert 3D sculptor the coin or it will be handed off to our other expert sculptor, William Woodruff who spent an entire career at the Royal Canadian Mint. This process is time consuming, very detailed and every aspect of sculpting for minting, like draft angles are taken into consideration. At this point, customers must determine if they wish to have portions of their coin to have a frosted, partially frosted or completely reflective surface.

From here, we then begin the process to transfer the sculpted images onto the dies. We use a specialised type of hardened steel which is specifically shaped for our press. Once the dies are shaped, smoothed, polished and cleaned, we then proceed with engraving. From there, the dies are cleaned again, then plated with a special chrome coating which increases their hardness and durability during this process, then polished again.

Once the dies are completed, then we proceed with fabricating the precious metal blanks. The metal blanks which contain no less than 1.005 Troy Oz are fabricated, polished, cleaned and are made ready for white glove striking. Once the coins are struck, they are placed in either a protective capsule or sleeve.

If select plating is required like gold plating on silver or platinum on gold, the masks must then be produced and the process of electroplating commences. This for the time being, will be outsourced until we can lock in our own expertise in this area.

If the coins require any full colour images to be applied, it is then done at this stage using our specialised UV printer which prints the image onto the coin.

Once the coin has reached this stage, only then will the edge markings, if requested, will be laser engraved.

Beaverworks takes immense pride in our packaging, so much so that even our competitor has copied our designs in the past. How you package the coin is similar to where one would hang a painting. A coin, depending on the customer, should either be placed inside protective sleeves, or capsules or capsules within a clamshell or custom box made specifically for it. We can provide expert level consulting and the finished packaging for our customers. The top, bottom, sides, interior and overall content and design and fabrication of these packages along with the paperboard sleeve for the boxes is something we can also provide, so when our customers do take possession of these works of minted art, all they need to do is hand them out because everything is finished to our specs of excellence.

If collectors want thousands of 1 Troy Oz coins, custom struck and placed only into sleeves, and for an extra fee, placed inside a 500oz+ Beaverbox, we can provide that for ease of transport.

When we started this, we selected metals refined by the Royal Canadian Mint. They are the globally recognised as a leader in precious metals refining and produce the standard .9999 purity (Gold and Silver. Platinum is .9995) we insist on using. Unless specifically requested by our customers, we will only use metal sourced from the Royal Canadian Mint and all paperwork to prove the provenance of the metal shall be provided to our customers. For other metals like Osmium, Rhodium and Palladium, every effort to use metals sourced from the Royal Canadian Mint will be made, but not assured.

If collectors wish to fabricate a custom set of precious metal poker chip set, comprised of precious metals, we can provide that as a special service to elite collectors. Imagine playing a hand where you use 1000oz of precious metal coins as your stack. Each of these coins will have a protective coating applied to them to ensure players will not damage the surface of the coins.

The most critical aspect of ensuring the coins are done properly, are ensuring the dies are properly made. It is a time consuming process, which is very detailed. The blank dies need to be shaped from a round bar stock of speciality steel, then heat treated, cleaned, polished, engraved, cleaned, polished, chrome plated, cleaned and polished again before it is ready for use. We charge $1200.00 for the fabrication of a set of finished dies (obverse and reverse) which are rated for approximately 50 000 strikes.

There is a minimum order of 100 coins. Any order less than 100, customers will be charged for the full amount of the 100.

Metal Purchase Fee: TBA

Blank Fabrication Fee: TBA

Multi-Strike Proof or Near Proof Finish per coin fee.: TBA

Select Electroplating Fee per side, per coin.: TBA (Optional)

Full Colour Printing per side fee.: TBA (Optional)

Capsule: $1.00

Sleeves: TBA (Optional)