全新加拿大皇家造币厂硬币饰有伊丽莎白女王二世蓝宝石禧雪花胸针

我们可爱的读者之一，珍妮特，最近在这里展示了一件特别的作品：一枚由加拿大皇家硬币制作的收藏硬币

A sparkling new collector’s coin from the Royal Canadian Mint features Queen Elizabeth II’s Sapphire Jubilee Snowflake Brooch in its design. The special brooch was gifted to the late Queen in 2017 by the then-Governor General of Canada, David Johnston, on behalf of the nation. It was presented to her during her visit to Canada House in London to celebrate both the 150th anniversary of Canada’s confederation and Elizabeth II’s Sapphire Jubilee.

加拿大皇家造币厂推出的一款闪闪发光的全新收藏硬币，其设计采用了伊丽莎白二世女王的蓝宝石禧年雪花胸针。这枚特别的胸针是由时任加拿大总督戴维·约翰斯顿 (David Johnston) 代表国家于 2017 年赠送给已故女王的礼物。这件作品是她在访问伦敦加拿大之家庆祝加拿大联邦成立 150 周年和伊丽莎白二世蓝宝石禧年时赠送给她的。

The brooch was created by Hillberg & Berk, a Saskatchewan-based jewelry firm, using Canadian materials. It was designed to complement another iconic Canadian royal jewel: the Diamond Maple Leaf Brooch. The bejeweled maple leaf was part of the collection of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who wore it during her first royal tour of Canada in 1939. Notably, Queen Elizabeth II was wearing the maple leaf brooch when she accepted the snowflake brooch gift in 2017.

这枚胸针是由萨斯喀彻温省的珠宝公司 Hillberg & Berk 使用加拿大材料制作的。它的设计旨在补充另一件加拿大标志性皇家珠宝：钻石枫叶胸针。这枚镶有宝石的枫叶胸针是伊丽莎白女王太后收藏的一部分，她在 1939 年首次访问加拿大时佩戴了这枚枫叶胸针。值得注意的是，伊丽莎白女王二世在 2017 年接受雪花胸针礼物时佩戴了这枚枫叶胸针。

The newer Canadian royal brooch features diamonds and pale blue sapphires in a snowflake-inspired design. It’s not actually a snowflake, as they feature six-fold symmetry, but the brooch does not. The 48 sapphires set in the white gold brooch are rare examples of the gemstone that were discovered in Canada. The gems, called Canadian beluga sapphires, were part of a cache found on Baffin Island by two brothers, Seemeega and Nowdluk Aqpik, who revealed their find to the public in 2002. Along with the sapphires, the piece features more than 400 diamonds that were mined in northern Canada.

新款加拿大皇家胸针采用雪花设计，镶有钻石和淡蓝色蓝宝石。它实际上不是雪花，因为它们具有六重对称性，但胸针却不是。白金胸针上镶有 48 颗蓝宝石，是在加拿大发现的宝石中的罕见例子。这些宝石被称为加拿大白鲸蓝宝石，是 Seemeega 和 Nowdluk Aqpik 两兄弟在巴芬岛发现的藏品的一部分，他们于 2002 年向公众透露了他们的发现。除了蓝宝石之外，这件作品还包含 400 多颗钻石，这些钻石是开采于加拿大北部。

Queen Elizabeth II wore the snowflake brooch in public for a variety of occasions during the last five years of her life. Her first public appearance in the brooch, during a meeting with the King and Queen of the Belgians, sparked some odd speculation. Later, Elizabeth also made a prominent outing in the brooch at a non-winter sporting event: the races at Royal Ascot in June 2019.

女王伊丽莎白二世在她生命的最后五年中，在各种公共场合佩戴过雪花胸针。她在会见比利时国王和王后时首次佩戴胸针公开露面，引发了一些奇怪的猜测。随后，伊丽莎白还在一场非冬季体育赛事中佩戴这枚胸针亮相：2019 年 6 月在皇家阿斯科特赛马场举行的比赛。

Now, the brooch has been immortalized in coin form. Thrillingly, the coin is just the first in a series of brooch-themed pieces planned by the Royal Canadian Mint as part of a “Crown Jewels” series. On their website, they write that the coin depicts “a one-of-a-kind brooch inspired by a snowflake as a representation of the Canadian Arctic.” They add that the brooch’s “likeness is captured on the reverse of this 99.99% pure silver coin, where the rhodium-plated embellishment’s cast elements and royal blue glass stones highlight the beauty and intricacy of the diamond-and-sapphire brooch’s design.”

现在，这枚胸针已以硬币的形式永垂不朽。令人兴奋的是，这枚硬币只是加拿大皇家造币厂计划推出的一系列胸针主题作品中的第一枚，作为“皇冠珠宝”系列的一部分。他们在他们的网站上写道，这枚硬币描绘了“一枚独一无二的胸针，其灵感来自于代表加拿大北极的雪花。”他们补充说，这枚胸针的“相似之处体现在这枚 99.99% 纯银硬币的背面，其中镀铑装饰的铸造元素和宝蓝色玻璃宝石凸显了钻石和蓝宝石胸针设计的美丽和复杂性。”

The silver coin, minted in 2024, features a portrait of King Charles III on the obverse of the piece. The mint notes that the effigy of the King was produced by the Canadian artist Steven Rosati.

这枚银币于 2024 年铸造，正面印有国王查理三世的肖像。造币厂指出，国王的肖像是由加拿大艺术家史蒂文·罗萨蒂制作的。

As with most collectible coins, the snowflake brooch coin is a limited edition piece. The mint states that 6,500 coins were produced, with the expectation that the mintage would sell out. As far as I can tell, there are still currently coins available for purchase at the price of $164.95 CAN (or around $115 USD at the time of this article’s publication). I’m not a coin collector, but I’m excited to see which brooches are included in this series. Could one of these Canadian royal brooches be up next?

与大多数收藏硬币一样，雪花胸针硬币是限量版。造币厂称已生产 6,500 枚硬币，预计将售完。据我所知，目前仍有代币可供购买，价格为 164.95 加元（或本文发表时约为 115 美元）。我不是硬币收藏家，但我很高兴看到该系列中包含哪些胸针。下一个可能是加拿大皇家胸针中的一枚吗？