There are three million toonie coins now in circulation in Canada, originally designed by a local graphic illustrator.
The new toonie was the creation of Belleville artist Carl Wiens and honours the 50th anniversary of Toronto’s iconic CN Tower.
Recently Wiens appeared on CJBQ’s Lorne Brooker Show revealing he was one of only three people to be chosen to submit designs for the coin.
“I considered it to be a real honour just to be included in that first process and then when I got through I was super excited.”
Wiens said a lot of work went into the toonie’s design.
“I had to keep the Mint (Royal Canadian Mint) people happy, I had to keep the CN Tower people happy and there was a lot of different levels of
revisions and changes and the glow in the dark feature was obviously a big component.”
See a Facebook post from the Royal Canadian Mint on the CN Tower toonie here.
See much more detail about Wiens’s toonie design here.
(Photo: Facebook/Royal Canadian Mint)
