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Is That Blitzen on Our Quarter?

By: Graham Iddon


December 23, 2016
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Science says: “Yes, sort of”

One of Emanuel Hahn’s submissions to a 1936 competition to design Canada’s new coins. (NCC 1963.59.15.25)

Hahn’s winning design submission for Canada’s 1937 quarter. (NCC 1963.59.15.27)

A Hahn quarter from the first issue of 1937 is virtually identical to today’s quarter design. This coin, however, is made predominantly of silver. (NCC 1997.18.1)

Well into my adulthood, I had assumed that the noble beast gracing the reverse side of our quarters was a moose. Clearly, I was not a terribly observant coin collector. I don’t know how old I was before a closer inspection had revealed to me that it was, in fact, a caribou. I am surprised that Emanuel Hahn, the designer of our quarter, (and dime and former silver dollar) didn’t choose the more popular moose. Perhaps, in 1937, the caribou was the more fashionable ungulate and the moose has only recently become iconic. Certainly the moose is now king of the Canadian souvenir T‑shirt—when was the last time you saw a cartoon caribou in a Mountie uniform?


The caribou had been an icon in Newfoundland and a draw for hunters since the mid-19th century. $1 bill, Newfoundland, 1920. (NCC 1634.14.2)



Unfortunately, the caribou were hunted nearly to extinction in Newfoundland and moose were introduced there in 1904. This 1897 Newfoundland 4¢ stamp promotes sporting tourism.


So how does this translate into a holiday blog? Well, DNA research by biologists has revealed that though they have always been considered different animals, the North American caribou and the European reindeer do in fact belong to the same species. They are cousins to one another, separated by the rising waters of the Bering Strait following the last ice age. In their long separation, they evolved quite differently.


The North American caribou: rangifer tarandus.



The European reindeer: rangifer tarandus.


Although neither variant of the species is currently known to fly, oral traditions from Western Yuletide celebrations speak of just such a thing: an overweight man (or elf—sources disagree) with a large sack of toys travelling in a flying sleigh pulled by eight reindeer. Or are they caribou? In a press release from the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, Dr. Perry Barboza from the University of Alaska suggested that young caribou are more suited to this annual feat than are reindeer.

“Calves entering their 1st winter have the greatest power-to-mass ratios, because their legs are proportionately longer and their body is leaner than those of adults… What has been reported in sightings as ‘eight tiny reindeer’ are therefore likely to be young caribou.”

So next time you pull out a fistful of quarters to feed a parking meter or to do your laundry, you might stop to think about the animals that really may have pulled that flying sleigh: eight juvenile, North American caribou.

This is the only way a caribou is likely to fly—though not as a pilot. A trade token from the annual Caribou Carnival in Yellowknife. (NCC 1985.15.26)

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Content type(s): Blog posts

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The Museum Blog

February 26, 2025

New acquisitions—2024 edition

By: David Bergeron, Krista Broeckx


Bank of Canada Museum’s acquisitions in 2024 highlight the relationships that shape the National Currency Collection.
Content type(s): Blog posts
February 11, 2025

Money’s metaphors

By: Phillipe Audet-Cayer, Graham Iddon, Patricia Marando


Buck, broke, greenback, loonie, toonie, dough, flush, gravy train, born with a silver spoon in your mouth… No matter how common the expression for money, many of us haven’t the faintest idea where these terms come from.
Content type(s): Blog posts
August 6, 2024

Treaties, money and art

By: Krista Broeckx, Frank Shebageget


Photo, collage, a photograph and a drawing of an elderly White man in a high collar and old-fashioned suit.
The Bank of Canada Museum’s collection has a new addition: an artwork called Free Ride by Frank Shebageget. But why would a museum about the economy buy art?
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): Arts, History
July 16, 2024

Rai: big money

By: Graham Iddon


An item is said to have cultural value when it can be directly associated with the history, people, beliefs or rituals important to a society. It’s the same with a rai—its value can be greater depending upon who authorized it, who carved it and who subsequently owned it.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): Economy, Geography, History Grade level(s): Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
April 18, 2024

Lessons from the Great Depression

By: Graham Iddon


A welfare coupon and piece of stock ticker tape over a 1930s black and white photo of unemployed men gathering to protest.
What the stock market crash of 1929 did was starkly reveal the weaknesses of economic systems that had evolved from the unregulated capitalism of the late 19th century.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): Financial literacy, History Grade level(s): Grade 09 / Secondary 3, Grade 10 / Secondary 4, Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
March 25, 2024

Welcoming Newfoundland to Canada

By: David Bergeron


Newfoundland’s entry into Confederation marked the end of an era when Canadian provinces issued their own coins and paper money.
Content type(s): Blog posts
December 19, 2023

New Acquisitions—2023 Edition

By: David Bergeron, Krista Broeckx


It’s that time of the year again—the wrap-up of the Bank of Canada Museum’s annual acquisition program. Here are a few highlights of the latest additions to the National Currency Collection.
Content type(s): Blog posts

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