THE COMMAND MAPLE PROTOTYPE
  80mm 5 TROY OZ .9999 FINE SILVER

A Gift of Honour: The Command Maple Presentation

In early 2025, we were honoured to be approached by Colonel Jim Donihee, former Wing Commander of 4 Wing Cold Lake, with a request that would test both our craftsmanship and our resolve.

He asked if we could provide a special presentation coin — a gift for the Guest of Honour at the annual Royal Canadian Air Force Mess Dinner, held in late March. At the time, we were already deep in development of one of our most ambitious coins to date: the Command Maple, a massive 80mm, 5 troy ounce, .9999 fine silver piece featuring the Maple Leaf on the obverse and the Command Ensign on the reverse.

This was no ordinary minting project.

The coin’s reeded edge required a custom-engineered collar capable of precisely engraving 700 micro-reeds into its inner wall. We partnered with one of Edmonton’s premier advanced fabrication centres, where a high-precision EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining) system cut the intricate collar that would help define the coin’s signature finish.

Despite repeated setbacks — including technical failures, metal flow issues, and collar fit challenges — we refused to give up. We worked relentlessly, day and night for weeks, and managed to produce a final prototype just hours before it was scheduled for pickup and presentation.

We refused any payment for this coin. It was, in our words, a gift of honour — not a product. It was offered freely to a room of senior RCAF officers, each of whom has dedicated their lives to the defence of Canada. It was our way of giving back to the men and women who serve in what we believe is the most capable and professional air force in the world today: the Royal Canadian Air Force.

The coin was presented to Colonel Josh Kutryk, Canadian astronaut and RCAF test pilot. Upon receiving it, Col. Kutryk was asked to consider taking the Command Maple into orbit — a gesture of gratitude that would mark the second time our founder, Joseph Green, has had his work sent into space in honour of the Canadian Forces.

The first? In 2002, a signed military flag — presented to Green by the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry — was flown aboard a NASA space shuttle mission. That flag commemorated the first four Canadian soldiers lost in Operation Apollo, our nation’s first combat deployment in Afghanistan.

“We may be a small mint,” said Green, “but we will never forget those who serve.”

The Command Maple project stands as a symbol of our commitment to honour, craft, and country — and we hope it will become a fixture in the legacy of the Royal Canadian Air Force for years to come.

PRO PATRICIA

This particular coin posed an extreme challenge from start to finish — from sculpting to engraving to striking. Unlike a standard coin, the Command Maple’s oversized 80mm diameter gives it more than four times the surface area, which in turn means four times less striking pressure is exerted across the face.

That pressure imbalance caused serious complications, especially given the deep relief of the engraving. The result: uneven strikes, incomplete detail, and tremendous wear on the dies. In fact, our in-house equipment couldn’t handle the size — so we had to bring in a local precision machine shop to resurface and support the dies, ensuring they could handle the demands of such a large, high-relief strike.

These are just a few snapshots from the intricate and demanding process behind this coin. We handled everything in-house—from design and engraving, to plating, finishing, and packaging. And of course, right at the final stage, Murphy’s Law kicked in: our UV printer failed while printing the final packaging. We had to pivot fast, relying on our backup systems to complete the job in time.

Due to the coin’s unusually large size, we experimented with multiple blank production methods. Investment casting proved unreliable, so we ultimately melted and rolled out a solid silver ingot by hand to create a workable blank—an intense but necessary solution.

We still have much to learn, and this process has pushed us to the edge of our capabilities more than once. But we’re committed to seeing this through. Once fabrication is perfected, our plan is to mint just 100 of these Command Maple coins—a truly limited, handcrafted tribute to the RCAF and the Maple Leaf it serves under.