When nights are still cold but daytime brings a thaw, the maple's sweet sap begins to flow. March and early April mark the typical time for maple syrup production across eastern and central Canada. As the tapped trees slowly yield their sugary water, friends and families venture out to nearby sugar shacks to revel in an annual rite that is embedded in this nation's cultural fabric. The experience is a true treat for the senses, whether it's thesweet scent of the boiling sap, the thrill of a horse-pulled sleigh ride, or the simple joy of watching syrup poured onto snow and twisted into maple taffy. It's folklore and tradition in an old-timeambiance, but it's also a festive—and tasty—way to bid farewell to another Canadian winter!

An ideal coin to introduce someone to the world of coin collecting! Order today!

• FEATURES A QUINTESSENTIALLY CANADIAN SCENE! Discover or relive the wonder of seeing the maple sap flow in early spring! Your coin features a quintessentially Canadian scene, and a timeless tradition that dates backto the First Nations people!
• INCLUDES SERIALIZED CERTIFICATE: The Royal Canadian Mint certifies all of its collector coins. Most of these are serialized certifications, meaning that each certificate is given a unique number, starting at 1.
• 99.99% PURE SILVER! Your coin has no GST/HST and a limited worldwide mintage.

Designed by Canadian artist Tony Bianco, your coin captures the wonder of a quintessentially Canadian tradition. The engraved scene is set in early spring, whenthe temperatures slowly climb during the day but fall again after sunset. The application of vibrant colour on the coin adds several focal points along the leafless landscape, which is otherwise dominatedby silver and white. A sleigh pulled by a team of horses adds a timeless quality to the setting—as does the bright red sugarhouse nestled in the maple grove, where the sap is boiled to produce pure maple syrup. In the foreground, the eye is naturally drawntowards the bright winter clothing of a young child, who wondrously peers into a bucket and curiously studies the collected sap during their visit to thesugar shack.

In the summer and fall, the tree builds up starch reserves that mature over winter. It takes the freeze-thaw cycle of early spring to commence the sugaring off process: cold nights and daytime temperatures above freezing (0 degrees Celsius) builds up the pressure within the tree, as ground water naturally mixes with the maple's now-sugary sap. Atap-hole is bored into the tree, allowing the clearliquid to flow into buckets or through a tube collection system leading back to a storage tank. The sap is then boiled down in the sugarhouse; as the water content evaporates, the caramelized liquid thickens to a sweet golden syrup that, once filtered andgraded for quality, serves as the perfect topping for a hearty pancake breakfast!

• The tradition of maple syrup dates back to Canada's First Nations people, who introduced it to the settlers of New France.
• While maple syrup can be made from thesap of several maple species, a sugar maple (Acer saccharum) tree's sapboasts the ideal sugar content that makes Canada's maple syrup so highly sought-after.
• When it comes to the production of maple products, Canada is a world leader—it provides 71% of the world's pure maple syrup!
• Canada's “maple belt”stretches from the western edges of Manitoba east to Nova Scotia, although the primary producer is the province of Quebec—it produces 91% of Canada's maple syrup!
• Depending on the region and the weather conditions,sap can be slowly gathered over 10 to 20 days.
• It takes about 40 litres of sap just to make onelitre of pure maple syrup!
• To produce maple sugar, butter or taffy, the sapmust be boiled for a longer time or at a different temperature than required to make maple syrup.

Your coin is encapsulated and presented in a Royal Canadian Mint-branded maroon clamshell with a black beauty box.

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