2016-07-23 Sat

Famous and the supremely talented artist who created the design for Canada's loonie coin, Robert-Ralph Carmichael passed away at the age of 78. The design was first introduced in 1987 and the Canadian one dollar bill was replaced with a coin. This change was considered to be the most important one in the history of Canadian Coinage. The design has been portrayed on more than one billion one-dollar coins since then and has become a symbol for Canada. Carmichael also designed for commemorative coins and a loon stamp for Canada Post.

It was originally decided that the loonie coin would be a version of a silver dollar from 1935 that was released to celebrate the silver jubilee of King George V. The design featured an aboriginal man and a voyageur paddling a canoe with packages. But the dies of this design were lost in transit between Ottawa and the mint's production facility in Winnipeg. Since there was a doubt that the coins can be easily replicated because the die was lost, Carmichael's image of a loon was used for the new dollar coins that were released on 30th June, 1987.

A giant Loonie monument was built as a mark of tribute in 1992 at Carmichael's hometown of Echo Bay, Ont., near Sault Ste. Marie.

Carmichael generally worked on designs that depicted humans and their relationships with the environment.