Make time to admire this functional sundial—a Mint first!

More than just an eye-catching garden adornment, the sundial is humanity’s oldest known timekeeping device—one that functions just as well today as it did in ancient times. An elaborate and functional showcase of craftsmanship, this limited collectible adds a working sundial to your coin collection. Its embellishment is a rhodium-plated brass gnomon that, when placed in view of the sun and in the direction of true north, casts an angled shadow onto the elaborately engraved 99.99% pure silver base to indicate local solar time.

A functional sundial coin—a Mint first!

Good to know

This sundial coin is a first for us. Your coin’s reverse isn’t just an ode to humanity’s oldest known timekeeping device—it is an actual sundial, a Mint first!

A 3D embellishment. Standing upright on your coin’s reverse, the cast gnomon—the angled pointer that casts the shadow—is rhodium-plated brass and styled to complement the coin base’s ornate design.

Interactive. This sundial is appropriate for mid-northern latitudes. To use your coin as a sundial, place it on a flat surface in direct sunlight and with the gnomon pointing north. Take note of where the shadow’s outer edge lines up, and that should indicate the approximate local solar time. (Like any sundial, some additional adjustments may be required due to longitude and the time of year.)

Frosted to perfection. The acanthus leaf motif has a timeless look that harkens back to a bygone era, while various frostings highlight different design elements and give the coin a more brushed appearance.

Specially encapsulated. Each coin has been carefully placed inside a taller capsule that can accommodate the additional height of the gnomon.

Low mintage. Only 5,000 sundial coins are available to collectors worldwide—order today!

Includes serialized certificate. The Royal Canadian Mint certifies all of its collector coins.

Did you know?

One of the oldest sundials in Canada is located across the street from our Ottawa facility, at the corner of Bruyère Street and Sussex Drive, where a matching pair of vertical sundials built in 1851 served as Ottawa’s first public timepieces.

Behind closed doors

"This has been, hands down, my favourite design challenge yet! There’s a lot of circular symmetry to be found here: some of the organic details are emanating from the sunflower representation of the sun, which supports the ornate gnomon, while others convey a more spiral-like movement that echoes the passage of time."

– Anna Bucciarelli, Artist

"This was definitely a fun project to work on! The fact that it’s a functioning sundial should make it very appealing to collectors looking for something unique.

– Melanie Luis, Product Manager

"A sundial is capable of marking the passage of time within a few minutes if designed with precision, taking into account the observer’s geographic location and the time of year. The sundial collectible project was an artistic, technical, and fabrication challenge—I congratulate the Royal Canadian Mint for creating this beautiful piece that demonstrates the essential function of a sundial in the Canadian context. Telling time by the movement of the Sun reveals the connection between the earth and the sky as first perceived by early humanity, our ancestors. It was my pleasure to advise on this unique project."

– David M. F. Chapman, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada

"The artist was very generous with her artwork and included variations of shading that helped me interpret the volumes and heights I needed to create. I could clearly discern which elements were raised and which ones were lower, and that’s important because ultimately, I had to build in enough height to ensure the details would survive the process—sculpting is one thing, but when creating the tooling, there’s always a bit of a loss factor.

This design is a very intricate one, with lots of elements that required either stronger or lighter frostings, or a combination of both, to strike the right balance in terms of visual contrast – for example, the foliage in the centre is one type of frosting, and the background is another, so you can truly differentiate between the layers. And whenever an embellishment is involved, a lot of discussions take place between the engraver and the product engineer – we’re always working in tandem to ensure the different parts of the design fit properly so that they’ll come together beautifully and seamlessly, as seen here."

– Louis-Remi Labelle, 3D Artist - Engraver

About the design

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

A functional sundial for mid-northern latitudes, your coin’s time-keeping reverse was designed by Canadian artist Anna Bucciarelli. Serving as the base, the reverse is ornamented with acanthus leaves and edged with Roman numerals indicating the hours from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. At the bottom, a stylized sunflower—a heliotropic flower and a beloved symbol of the sun—supports the gnomon, which harnesses the power of sunlight and casts the measured shadow that helps determine the time of day. The obverse features the effigy of His Majesty King Charles III by Canadian artist Steven Rosati.

Product # 246078

$20 Pure Silver Coin - The Sundial (2025)