2016-08-22 Mon

The 125th Anniversary of the introduction of Basketball in Massachusetts is celebrated by the Royal Canadian Mint with the issue of the first ever convex-concave coin by the country.

A Canadian named James Naismith developed the sport in 1891 at a YMCA in Springfield, Mass to occupy schoolchildren during winter. A peach basket was used and a rule book was developed with nine players on each side. The University of Kansas basketball program was developed by him and it became the official Olympic sport at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.

The reverse of .9999 fine silver 30.75 grams concave/convex $25 coloured coin is convex in shape and recreates the shape of a basketball. The engraving depicts the recessed lines and dimpled surface of the basketball and the colour resembles its orange appearance. A player leaps for a dunk shot and another one defends. Other inscriptions include ‘CANADA’ and ‘1891–2016’. The concave obverse features the common portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.

Mintage is limited of 8,500 pieces and they cost $159.95 Canadian each.