The Canadian Mint is going to release a glow in the dark quarter which will mark its first ever use of this technology. They have chosen an image of the Pachyrhinosaurus lakustai dinosaur for one of the coin faces. This Late Cretaceous dinosaur was first found at Pikestone Creek, Alberta by science teacher Al Lakusta.
In a clever twist, the mint has a painted representation of the dinosaur on the quarter and when placed in the dark a photo-luminescent image of its skeleton emerges. The artwork was created by paleoartist Julius T. Csotonyi.
The mint is planning three more dinosaur coins as well. It was interesting to see their commemorative coins for the 200th anniversary of the 1812 war between Canada and the United States. Looking at the U.S.Mint the only coin I could find about the War of 1812 was the Star Spangled Banner (written during the war) coins which will turn 200 years old in 2014.
 |
| Pachyrhinosaurus drawing by Nobu Tamura From Wikipedia.org |
Canadian Mint Press release April 17, 2012
Wikipedia Commons on Pachyrhinosaurus
