Canada 2012 Cowboy on Bucking Bronco Horse - Calgary Stampede 100th Anniversary $50 5 Ounce Pure Silver Proof GX

This huge, low mintage (only 1,500), 5 ounce pure silver beauty features that icon of the American Old West, the cowboy, on a bucking bronco!

It's time to cowboy up and let your wild side show - as in, "Wild West". Cowboys are one of the most popular topics in American numismatics (and around the world, for that matter - few things speak as definitively of the American spirit as a cowboy!). Whenever we get Western themed coins in, they go back out quickly. Yet coins depicting cowboys are few and far between. That's why we're so excited about the new Calgary Stampede - Cowboy and Bucking Bronco Program from the Royal Canadian Mint! This pure silver proof features elaborate, intricate engraving and has the lowest mintage of any Canadian five ounce silver coin ever - only 1,500 total! Cowboys (and cowgirls!) of the world unite - this is the one for you! If you've ever wanted to own the spirit of the American Old West, here's your chance - but don't wait too long, we expect these gems to sell out at the Mint in record time! Git along, little dogies, indeed!

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The Spirit of the Old West
This four coin program commemorates the 100th Anniversary of the first Calgary Stampede in grand style. There's something for everyone, from the casual collector to the true cowboy enthusiast to the serious investor. Each coin depicts a cowboy on a bucking bronco, with the exquisite detail and traditional styling for which the Royal Canadian Mint is known the world over. The four Western-themed coins in the program are:

    Crown-Sized Color Quarter Coin & Stamps Set
    Pure Silver Dollar (mintage only 10,000)
    $50 Five Ounce Pure Silver Proof (mintage of 1,500)
    $500 Five Ounce Pure Gold Proof (mintage of 200)

and let's not forget this affordably-priced, hard-to-find silver half dollar featuring a chuck wagon racing (as well as a cowboy on a bucking bronco!):

    2002 Cowboy 50 Cents Silver Proof

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This listing is for the Fifty Dollar 5 Ounce Pure Silver Proof. Bursting with excitement, this giant doorstopper of a coin has a diameter of 65 millimeters - that's nearly 3 inches! Designed by Canadian artist Michelle Grant, it features six-time world champion bucking bronco Grated Coconut, in full flight, hind legs full extended behind him. Grated Coconut is ridden by a brave bareback cowboy in chaps and cowboy boots, one hand clutching at the reins with only the harness and flying dressings between man and beast.

Finely engraved details like Grated Coconut’s “CS” shoulder freeze brand and “G-65” hip brand and the rider’s “1912” competitor number (a reminder of the Stampede’s inaugural year) come to life amidst a curling frame of intricate leather tooling inspired by the trophy saddle of Flores Ladue, wife of Stampede founder Guy Weadick. The entire image is framed by a raised circle of rope- or lariat-patterned embossing against a background of pristine polished fine silver. With a mintage of only 1,500, heed our advice and do not delay if you wish to make this beauty yours!

For more on the Calgary Stampede, the world's largest rodeo and "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", please see the presentation at the end of this article for the complete text of the certificate.

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Investment Note
Here's a coin with a ton of investment potential, to say nothing of cachet! It's huge (nearly 3 inches in diameter) and stuck in the purest silver refined anywhere in the world - .9999 fine! The cowboy theme is extremely popular, too! It's also only the sixth 5 ounce silver coin ever minted by Canada. What's more, it has the absolute lowest mintage limit of the bunch - only 1,500! Don't let it sell out on you, get yours today!

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Purity Note
The Royal Canadian Mint refines the purest silver in the world. This five ounce silver coin is 99.99% pure!

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Obverse
A cowboy on a bucking bronco, set amidst lavishly engraved western details (described above). The brand CS and the legend 100 YEARS commemorate the centenary of the Calgary Stampede. The date and denomination are also indicated.

Reverse
A frosted cameo proof portrait of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II of England, in profile facing right. This portrait, the fourth effigy of the queen to appear on Canadian coinage, was executed by the artist Susanna Blunt. The legend ELIZABETH II D. G. REGINA ("Elizabeth II, Queen by the Grace of God") also appears.

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Packaging
The coin is encapsulated inside a black leatherette, clamshell-style presentation case, lined with black velvet and protected by a full color outer sleeve. An individually-numbered certificate of authenticity is included.

Specifications

The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth: Celebrating 100 Years of the Calgary Stampede
When the Calgary and District Agricultural Society held its first fair in 1886, organizers were thrilled that 500 of the area’s 2,000 residents came out to view the exhibitions and attractions. At the time, participants could not know that they were sharing in an event that would one day attract more than a million visitors to Calgary, Alberta each year.

From this small fair, the exhibition grew. In 1912, American Guy Weadick (formerly a trick roping performer in a Wild West show) came to Calgary to try to convince local investors to help him build an event that would authentically represent ranching and farming skills and pursuits. He succeeded in convincing four local cattlemen—Pat Burns, George Lane, A. J. MacLean, and A. E. Cross, later known as the “Big Four”—to invest approximately $100,000. The first Calgary Stampede in 1912 was a success, earning back more than the initial investment and attracting about 100,000 attendees and hundreds of performers and cowboys from across North America.

After various successes and setbacks over the decade that followed, Weadick ultimately merged his event with the Calgary Industrial Exhibition in 1923. This first combined event, the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede, transformed Calgary’s city core with street parties and merriment for six days and saw the introduction of the world’s first chuck wagon races.

With major discoveries of oil in the region in the late 1940s, the city’s growth skyrocketed: the population doubled between 1949 and 1956. In 1968, the event expanded to ten days. By the 1970s, more than a million visitors were passing through the venue’s gates each year. In the 1980s, the venue was expanded to accommodate the 1988 Winter Olympics and the world-famous Saddledome was born.

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“And They’re Off!”
Throughout its century-long life, the Calgary Stampede has maintained Weadick’s original focus on Western heritage and the life and skills of ranch and farm. Horses and rodeo sport remain central pillars of the Stampede, which boasts the world’s premier outdoor rodeo facility, chuck wagon races with more than $1 million in prizes, and world-class agricultural attractions and competitions.

The Stampede’s love affair with horses is evident even from its opening parade which, in addition to marching bands and nearly 200 floats, features hundreds of horses. The core of the ten-day Stampede—the rodeo—pays out millions? of dollars in prizes to its competitors in saddle bronc and bareback riding, bull riding, steer wrestling, barrel racing, tie-down roping, wild pony racing, novice bareback, junior steer riding, and novice saddle bronc.

The role of horses is so central to the Stampede that, in 1961, officials began to breed and raise Stampede livestock, including bucking horses and bulls, at the 22,000-acre Stampede Ranch in Hanna, Alberta—the first such ranch in North America.

The Calgary Stampede today is a world-renowned event and Canada’s highest-grossing festival. More than one-third of its visitors come from outside of Calgary—including many from the United States, Britain, Asia, and Australia—to witness the event that has, after one hundred years, earned well the name, “The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.”

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