A follow-up to 2021’s Reaper of Death! Mercury’s Horned Face or Mercuriceratops gemini is the featured star of the second Discovering Dinosaurs coin, and the first things you’ll notice about this ceratopsid are the bony, wing-like protrusions on its head. Engraved on the coin’s reverse, its skull fossil is especially striking against the black rhodium-plated “rock” background, which pays tribute to the discovery that yielded another piece of Canada’s prehistoric past.

Designed by Canadian paleoartist Julius Csotonyi, the coin’s reverse features the fossilized skull of Mercuriceratops gemini, a recently discovered horned dinosaur species. Beneath the black rhodium plating, the engraved texture represents the rock formation in Alberta’s Dinosaur Provincial Park where a key fossil fragment was found. The obverse also features rhodium plating behind the effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by Susanna Blunt.

Its unusual frill may look scary, but it likely helped Mercuriceratops to attract a mate. Unveiled in 2014, this six-metre-long herbivore was described from near-identical skull fragments of two individuals—one recovered from Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta and the other from the Judith River Formation in Montana (United States)—hence the species name, gemini (“twin” in Latin).

The genus name, Mercuriceratops, means “Mercury’s horned face.” It was named after Mercury, the Roman messenger to the gods, who is often depicted with wings on his helmet.

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99.99% pure silver
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GST/HST exempt

Product # 245797

$20 Pure Silver Coin - Discovering Dinosaurs: Mercury's Horned Face (2022)