The Royal Canadian Mint Centennial Set, a 2008 silver proof 50 cents coin and stamp set from Canada.

The Royal Canadian Mint celebrates its centennial with this unique coin and stamp set featuring a double-dated (1908-2008) silver proof replica of the 1908 fifty-cent piece, Canada’s first domestically-produced coin. The obverse of this 2008 commemorative coin shows the effigy of His Majesty King Edward VII.

The commemorative stamp issued by Canada Post to celebrate the centennial of the RCM shows one of the first coins minted at the RCM: a 50-cent piece featuring a crown and a border of maple leaves. To further accentuate the coin, the stamp features a high-relief image achieved through special embossing techniques. The back of the coin—a portrait of Prince Albert Edward, Queen Victoria's son—appears on the companion mint postage stamp.

In 1908, the institution that would become known as the Royal Canadian Mint officially opened for business. Still, coin designs and tools remained the domain of the Royal Mint in London. In 1931, the Mint transformed from a branch of Britain’s Royal Mint to a wholly Canadian institution and, by 1937, the first “all-Canadian” coin designs-like the 1-cent maple leaf, the 5-cent beaver and the 10-cent Bluenose began circulating.