Pushing Boundaries: The RCAF Silver Maple

As we set out to create the RCAF Silver Maple, we knew we weren’t just designing another coin — we were aiming to raise the bar. But with ambition comes challenge. And this project tested every part of our process and our resolve.

During the development of this die, what began as a single coin evolved into two distinct offerings. Along the way, we asked ourselves a simple question: What is the highest relief coin ever struck in Canada? The answer was the Royal Canadian Mint’s 2 oz High Relief Gold Maple at 3mm, with its silver counterpart coming in at around 2mm.

When we measured our prototype, we found it ranked 16th globally in relief height. That didn’t sit well with us.

So, in true Beaverworks fashion, we decided to break a record — not for the sake of novelty, but in honour of the Royal Canadian Air Force. We pushed the engraving deeper, reaching a staggering 3.52mm of relief, setting a new Canadian record.

We didn’t know then what kind of stress that would put on our system. We learned quickly that traditional blanking dies weren’t sufficient. New custom collars had to be machined just to contain the immense striking force — each coin needed 20 to 30 strikes to push metal into the deepest contours of the die. We broke equipment. We even broke the die itself when experimenting with alternative blank shapes. But we broke the Canadian record, too — and we’ll take that trade.

In our pursuit of perfection, we encountered all kinds of issues: misalignments, ghost engraving, over-lathed rims — even the wrong stack of coins getting accidentally slabbed and shipped. A few of those early flawed pieces made it out the door before we paused production and shipments over the Canada Post strike last Christmas.

That was our first and only shipping error. It won’t happen again.

Those three customers who received flawed ultra high relief coins by mistake will not only receive corrected versions, but a complimentary Command Maple as well. The misstruck coins they now hold may very well become among the rarest coins we ever produce.

We’ve since paused this offering to fully rework the dies. We’re currently awaiting final electroplating materials before production resumes. Once we restart, it will be with a completely flawless die and a process we’ve refined end-to-end.

The Process Behind Perfection: Learning from Failure

In the three images below, we’re sharing a behind-the-scenes look at our early-stage failures—because excellence is a process, not an accident.

You’ll notice a few key issues:

The outer rim was lathed too deep, which caused a raised ring to extrude too far from the coin’s edge. It didn’t look right and more importantly, it didn’t feel right in the hand.

The electroplated surface didn’t properly adhere around some of the engraved elements. We saw this coming just before striking and knew these test pieces would fail—but we documented the attempt anyway.

After these trials, we reground and re-engraved the dies, which are now complete. The only thing we’re waiting on is the arrival of our new electroplating solutions. These will allow us to finish the dies with a flawless, mirror-like surface and begin shipping the corrected coins as promised.

To give you a sense of the scale: producing these corrected dies took over seven months and several attempts to achieve the level of engraving precision we demand. Often, what looks like a clean surface after grinding may still hold ghost impressions of the previous engraving—flaws that only become visible after final polishing, or when the die is actually used to strike a coin.

In the case of the 5 oz Command Maple, it took over a week of meticulous surface grinding and polishing—by hand—to fully remove the previous design.

Pushing the Limits: Lessons Learned from Our 80mm Die and Collar

This image showcases our 80mm die and collar system, featuring an impressive 700 vertical reeds engraved along the inside perimeter. If you look closely at the die itself, you’ll notice a narrow inset perimeter ring about 1–2mm wide. That detail—and what it revealed—became an important lesson in understanding the true limits of our equipment.

When we first had these dies professionally lathed, we hadn’t yet fully grasped the complex relationship between die surface area, strike pressure, and press capacity. With our 300-ton hydraulic press, we assumed maximum pressure would be sufficient to bring out the full detail in the design we had painstakingly sculpted, engraved, plated, and polished.

But here’s what we learned:

Surface area matters: An 80mm coin has more than four times the surface area of a standard-sized coin, meaning that same 300 tons of pressure is distributed across a much wider area—resulting in significantly less force per square millimeter.

As a result, the high-relief detail we expected simply didn’t appear. Even at maximum pressure, it wasn’t enough.

When striking at full force, metal flow under pressure can leak outward, producing a thin, razor-sharp edge around the coin—ruining what would otherwise be a perfect strike.

Grinding down heat-treated, hardened steel is no small task. Just resurfacing one hardened die face took us over a week of precision hand-grinding using belts that were chewed up almost immediately. These surfaces must be not only perfectly flat but also absolutely square. Even a slight angular deviation results in asymmetric pressure—producing a coin thinner on one side than the other. We learned that the hard way.

This is the reality of minting large-diameter, ultra-high-relief coins: every micron matters. And in the absence of industrial-grade CNC tooling, we’re pushing the limits of what can be done with hand tools and ingenuity.

These challenges haven’t discouraged us—they’ve made us sharper, more resourceful, and resolute in our pursuit of excellence. This is what it means to forge something exceptional by hand, not because it’s easy, but because we believe Canadians deserve nothing less.

We don’t have a lathe large enough to handle that die, so every pass had to be done manually, which is incredibly time-consuming but necessary to get it right.

An Unexpected Setback on the 5oz Command Maple—But the Results Speak Volumes

Despite our best precautions, a tiny fragment of metal found its way between the dies and the silver during striking. That tiny speck was enough to score the surface of the dies, which now must be reground and remade—a time-consuming but necessary step to meet our standards of perfection.

While frustrating, this is part of the reality of minting at this level. The good news? You can already see the potential in this strike. The detail, the relief, the brilliance—it’s looking absolutely fabulous.

We’re not cutting any corners. The Command Maple deserves to be flawless. To learn more about this coin and follow the journey of its production, visit the [5oz Command Maple page].

We thank you for your patience and support as we continue refining every detail to bring you the world-class craftsmanship you deserve.

We also plan to remake the Ultra High Relief RCAF Silver Maple in the future, along with the 1 oz Command Maple — a design we’re putting the final touches on now.

Our goal is to release a new version of the RCAF Silver Maple each year, in ongoing tribute to those who serve. We’ve built a mint from scratch, and with that monumental work behind us, our turnaround times, quality control, and service will only continue to improve.

We’re deeply grateful to our collectors — the most patient and passionate anywhere. We’re committed to getting it right. We’re committed to the Maple Leaf.

Thank you for being with us on this journey. Stay tuned — the relaunch is coming