1/2 oz 2026 Tall Ships: Ketch Rig Proof Gold Coin | Royal Canadian Mint

From riverbanks to horizons: Learn about the Tall Ship workhorse of the St. Lawrence.

The fifth coin in Royal Canadian Mint's Tall Ships series offers another window into the past, capturing both a ship at work and the people whose lives were tied to the waters of the St. Lawrence. Throughout the St. Lawrence Valley, the St. Lawrence sailing schooner or ketch typically carried goods, families and stories between riverside villages, evolving over centuries to master the river’s varied navigation conditions. With their flat bottoms and adapted rigging, these sailboats became symbols of community and ingenuity, embodying the spirit of a maritime culture that shaped both Quebec’s identity and Canada’s broader nautical heritage.

Tall Ships #5: A two-masted workhorse of water and wind.

COIN HIGHLIGHTS

• Fifth coin in the series. The annual Tall Ships series of pure gold coins celebrates the legendary vessels that drew international acclaim for Canada’s shipyards and contributed to our rich maritime heritage.
• Back to Canada’s age of sail. Each instalment showcases a different type of tall ship or sail plan, beginning with the brigantine (2022) and continuing with the full-rigged ship (2023), the topsail schooner (2024), the three-masted schooner (2025), and now the ketch rig (2026).
• A glimpse of the past. Not just a tall ship at full sail—your coin’s reverse rewinds time to show the ketch being unloaded by horse and wagon on the shore ahead of the tide’s return.
• Noted marine artist. Your coin’s reverse design was created by renowned marine artist Yves Bérubé, whose works—celebrated on coins and canvas alike—have made him a collector favourite and a keeper of Canada’s maritime heritage.
• Pure gold portrait. Your low-mintage (800) coin is crafted from 99.99% pure gold, with a gleaming mirror-like finish that lights up the engraved marine art on your coin’s reverse.
• A popular theme. A prestigious addition to any collection, especially a gold, history or nautical-themed one.
• Includes serialized certificate. The Royal Canadian Mint certifies all of its collector coins.
• No GST/HST.

PACKAGING

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

A MARITIME LEGACY

Every Tall Ships coin is an expertly engraved, exquisitely detailed portrait of Canada’s past. These are the wooden ships that shaped the course of Canada’s history, and serve as a testament to a proud seafaring and shipbuilding legacy.

DID YOU KNOW?

For more than two centuries, communities along the St. Lawrence Valley built such ships as the ketch to serve their transportation and communication needs. Valued for their stability, strength, and ease of handling in varied winds, these vessels carried a tall mainmast and a shorter mizzenmast. Their flat bottoms allowed them to remain perfectly vertical when running aground at low tide, which facilitated access for loading and unloading goods—as depicted on this coin.

The reverse design by Canadian artist Yves Bérubé features two views of a ketch: under sail in the distance, and aground at low tide in the foreground. A horse-drawn wagon takes on logs, unloaded from amidships of the beached ketch, which waits for the tide’s return to carry it onward. The obverse features the effigy of His Majesty King Charles III by Canadian artist Steven Rosati.

ABOUT THE ROYAL CANADIAN MINT

The Royal Canadian Mint is known as one of the most reputable mints in the world. The Ottawa Branch of the Royal Mint opened in 1908 and was renamed The Royal Canadian Mint in 1931 when control was transferred to the Canadian government. Their high standards for excellence and quality allowed them to be the first refinery to manufacture 9999 fine gold bullion coins in 1982, as well as the first to reach 99999 fine gold purity in 1998.