2005 Canada Proof Gold $300 Welcome Figure Totem Pole

Coin Highlights:

• Contains 1.12 oz of Gold.
• Limited Mintage of 1,000 coins worldwide.
• Comes packaged in a mint issued box and includes a certificate of authenticity.
• Obverse: Right-facing profile of Queen Elizabeth II, along with the year and face value.
• Reverse: Totem pole chief holding a talking stick in one hand and a copper in the other.
• Sovereign coin backed by the Canadian government.

Totem poles of the Northwest Coast communicated many layers of information about the chiefs and their families who commissioned them. Crests of the families were based on animals, fish, birds, and plants that they encountered in the ancestral myths. Each generation raised new poles that recombined the images of ancestors and supernatural beings as a record of the ties between families and their links to property and resources.

Along the Pacific Northwest coast the immense western red cedar trees provided carvers with logs that could be carved into canoes, house breams or totem poles up to 20m (65ft) in length. Before contact with Europeans, wood was carved with tools with stone or shell blades, but with the arrival of the fur traders in the late eighteenth century the carving of these monumental art forums soared to new heights.

Designed by Dr. Richard Hunt, a Kwaguilth (Kwakiutl) native, Welcome Figure, embodies the pride, honor, prosperity, and hospitality that have been the hallmark of his people for generations.

The main figure is a chief holding a talking stick in one hand and a copper in the other. The copper is the symbol of prosperity. Above the talking stick is an eagle the totem for the people of Fort Rupert, British Columbia. The chief is welcoming a visitor to his village. He is enveloped by a raven that is carrying an eagle in its tail. The guest is standing below the walking stick and is wearing a woven hat and chilkat blanket.

The Big House in the background is where the community gathers to perform its customs. The design on the front of the house is a Sea Monster, the totem for Mungo Martin, Dr. Hunt’s Grandfather. Mr. Martin was a significant force in the reviving that traditional arts of the northwest Pacific coast. The mountains are those of the Vancouver Island. They also represent a family of ravens, the totem for the Hunt