Royal Canadian Mint

Bison

2015–2025

Eleven compact silver issues, read through four distinct reverse designs and a changing portrait of Canada’s monarch.

11: dated issues
4: reverse designs
1¼ oz: silver weight
.9999: fine silver

2015 · 2025 exact dated issues

The four designs

The sequence is organized by materially different reverse compositions—not by every date change.

2015

Across the Prairie

A striding bison crosses open grass beneath a wide prairie sky.

Claudio D’Angelo, attributed through signature and specialist catalogues

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2016

At Water’s Edge

Water, mountains and a standing animal turn the field into a compact habitat scene.

Vanessa Miller

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2017 · 2020–2025

Monumental Full Body

A lowered head, massive shoulder and layered sky make the animal feel monumental.

Vanessa Miller; attribution is explicit in several dated Mint records

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2018–2019

Face to Face

The landscape disappears as horn, eye and fur fill the silver field.

Trevor Tennant, attributed through signature and specialist catalogues

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Browse 2015–2025

A data browser for every dated issue, including obverse transitions, security evidence and honest mintage status.

Year	Design	Obverse	Security / evidence	Mintage status
2015	01 Across the Prairie	Elizabeth II	Radial lines; dated micro-leaf not established	Published figures conflict
2016	02 At Water’s Edge	Elizabeth II	Radial lines · micro-engraved maple leaf ‘16’	Not located
2017	03 Monumental Full Body	Elizabeth II	Radial lines · micro-engraved maple leaf ‘17’	Published figures conflict
2018	04 Face to Face	Elizabeth II	Radial lines; dated micro-leaf not established	Not located
2019	04 Face to Face	Elizabeth II	Radial lines; dated micro-leaf not established	Not located
2020	03 Monumental Full Body returns	Elizabeth II	Radial lines · micro-engraved maple leaf ‘20’	No fixed mintage
2021	03 Monumental Full Body	Elizabeth II	Radial lines · dated micro-leaf ‘21’; Mint product page not located	Not located
2022	03 Monumental Full Body · official product title “Buffalo”	Elizabeth II	Radial lines · micro-engraved maple leaf ‘22’	No fixed mintage
2023	03 Monumental Full Body	Elizabeth II memorial	Radial lines · micro-engraved maple leaf ‘23’	No fixed mintage
2024	03 Monumental Full Body	Charles III	Radial lines · micro-engraved maple leaf ‘24’	No fixed mintage
2025	03 Monumental Full Body	Charles III	Radial lines · micro-engraved maple leaf ‘25’	No fixed mintage

Natural history

A prairie animal, a Canadian restoration story

Plains bison once shaped grassland ecosystems at continental scale. Their near-disappearance and carefully managed return make the animal more than a national emblem: it is also a conservation story written across living prairie.

Before the collapse

Large herds grazed, disturbed soil and moved nutrients across the plains.

Conservation herds

Protected breeding herds became foundations for later restoration.

Return to grassland

Modern reintroduction reconnects bison behaviour with prairie ecology.

Composition

How the engraving changes

Across four compositions, scale is the narrative tool: a distant animal in 2015, a habitat scene in 2016, a monumental body from 2017, and the close gaze of 2018–2019.

Exact detail crop of the 2018 bison portrait

Obverse and security

Portrait and security timeline

The reverse design may repeat while the obverse and security context change. Elizabeth II appears through 2022, a memorial obverse marks 2023, and Charles III begins in 2024.

Shared specifications

Metal: .9999 fine silver
Weight: 1¼ troy oz
Face value: 8 Canadian dollars
Edge: Serrated
Finish: Bullion
Mint: Royal Canadian Mint

Selected sources

Primary Mint records lead the factual record; specialist catalogues are used where they add dated or visual evidence.