Canada Just Got Its First Ever Glow-In-The-Dark Coin

Money just got a whole lot cooler in Canada.

The Royal Canadian Mint has just reissued a special anniversary edition of its $2 coin, and this time, it’s a little extra special: that’s right, it actually glows in the dark.

The coin has been created to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary, known as a sesquicentenary.

The beautifully illustrated coin features a blue and green depiction of the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) above two canoeists on a lake. The Northern Lights can be seen from a number of different locations around Canada, including the Yukon, the Saskatchewan wilderness, and other remote locations.

Special ink has been used in the coin to allow it to glow. It’s pretty damn cool:

While this isn’t the first glow-in-the-dark coin ever, it’s the first to put into general circulation: three million “townies”, as they’re called, will be distributed throughout the country. “The mint has a long history of innovation in the coin business,” said Alex Reeves, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mint. “We like to demonstrate our capabilities to our customers.”

Indeed, Canada became the first country to put colourful coins into circulation, back in 2004.

Since then, the mint has released many interesting kinds of colourful coins, often depicting other aspects of the country’s beautiful natural scenery. Other series’ include images inspired by the zodiac signs, Star Trek, flora, fauna and more. Some special edition coins even include jewels and other elaborate embellishments, like this butterfly coin:

(Lead image: Wikimedia)

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