Despite rumours about rivers flowing with gold, prospecting British Columbia’s Cariboo region in during the gold rush of the 1860s was back-breaking work. Although more advanced methods of metal extraction were used by prospectors to pull their fortunes from the waterways of the Cariboo, the gold pan has remained the iconic symbol of the gold rush dream: one prospector, alone in the wilderness, armed only with a pan and dreams of hitting gold.
In this coin’s reverse image design, Canadian artist Tony Bianco portrays the elemental image that inspired gold fever throughout the 1860s: a rusty, smoke-blackened tin pan, just lifted from the river’s waters, filled with gleaming gold dust and nuggets of purest water-filtered gold. Against a polished central field, the image centres on the pan, highly texturized by Royal Canadian Mint engravers to convey the rough, gritty nature of this time-worn prospecting tool. Two hands grasp the pan from the top of the image, carefully tipping it toward the river’s waters lying just below the pan, to bring to light assorted rocks, stones, sand, and gold nuggets.
Diameter: 13.92mm
Weight: 1.27g
Material: Gold
Fineness: 0.9999
Bullion Weight: 0.04 Troy Ounces
Reverse: Gold Pan
Finish: Proof
Series: Cariboo Gold Rush
Quantity Produced: 12000
Monarch: Queen Elizabeth II
Theme(s): Shaking Fortune from the Cariboo's Rivers of Gold
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