WEBSTER | Coins Set from Canada features walrus

The Atlantic walrus, a rare and endangered species, is the subject of Canada's just-issued platinum, four-coin proof set.
Struck in 99.95 pure platinum, each coin shows the walrus in various icy settings. Once common in Canada's north, the walrus population is estimated at only 15,000 today, living in Hudson Bay and the eastern Arctic. Pierre Leduc designed the set that highlights Canada's endangered wildlife.
All coins also carry the portrait of Queen Elizabeth by Dora de Pedery-Hunt. They carry denominations of $300, $150, $75 and $30.
Sets sell for $2,155.45 and can be ordered from the Royal Canadian Mint at (800) 268-6468 or at www.mint.ca.
200 years later
The Lewis and Clark bicentennial is a magnet for coin and medal production.
The U.S. Mint will celebrate with a new nickel and has already issued the Missouri quarter with an expedition theme. The Sacagawea dollar may even take on new interest to collectors of issues surrounding the epochal expedition.
Collectors have an eye out, too, for the 1904 Lewis and Clark gold dollar.
These small coins, dated 1904 and 1905, carry portraits of both leaders. Only about 20,000 were struck for the centennial celebration in Portland, Ore. They helped finance a memorial to Sacagawea.
A private firm, the American Mint, in Mechanicsburg, Pa., is issuing a commemorative medallion resembling the buffalo nickel. Struck in cupro-nickel, the medallion has been licensed by the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Council.
Part of the proceeds go to the council for its activities during the four-year observance. The medallion costs $19.95. Web site queries go to www.LewisandClarktrail.com.
Florida in December
Coins have long provided teachers with vivid insights into history, biography and economic thought. To help middle-school teachers use coins in history, mathematics and government classes, the American Numismatic Association is offering a course, "Coins in the Classroom," on Dec. 29-31 in Clearwater, Fla.
Queries go to Gail Baker at the association, 818 N. Cascade Ave., Colorado Springs, Colo. 80903.
XDaniel Webster is a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer.