2023 Canada $1 Coloured Honouring Elsie MacGill Brilliant Uncirculated (MS-63)

2023 Canada $1 Coloured Honouring Elsie MacGill Brilliant Uncirculated (MS-63)

Celebrate Elsie MacGill, who believed we are all capable of reaching for the sky. Elizabeth “Elsie” MacGill (1905-1980) was a person of brilliant mind and unconquerable spirit who excelled in aeronautical engineering and elevated others by championing women’s rights. The 2023 $1 commemorative circulation coin celebrates this exceptional Canadian once dubbed the “Queen of the Hurricanes,” whose accomplishments – as well as her exemplary desire to improve and uplift others – were driven by her unrelenting belief that we can all soar higher. A 1942 issue of True Comics dubbed her “Queen of the Hurricanes.” As Chief Aeronautical Engineer, Elsie MacGill supervised the engineering work for the Canadian production of more than 1,450 Hawker Hurricanes for the Allied war effort – she even designed a winterized version.

Already Canada’s first practising professional woman engineer, Elsie MacGill became the first woman in North America – and possibly the world – to earn a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering. That same year (1929), she contracted polio and was told she would never walk again, but she defied expectations by learning to walk with the support of canes.

Designed by artist Claire Watson, the $1 coin’s reverse features a portrait of Elsie MacGill (1905-1980), an aeronautical pathbreaker and champion of women’s rights, indicated by the lapel pin she wears representing her tenures as provincial (Ontario) and national presidents of the Canadian Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs. The sky backdrop highlights some of MacGill’s historic engineering achievements, including the Maple Leaf Trainer II (top) – the first aircraft to be produced and designed by a woman – and her key role in the wartime production of Hawker Hurricanes, which is highlighted on the colourized coin. The obverse features the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II by Susanna Blunt. The obverse also bears a special marking that includes four pearls symbolizing the four effigies that have graced Canadian coins and the double date of her reign.

Specifications:
Composition: Three-ply brass finish plated steel, with selective colour on the reverse.
Weight: 6.27 g
Diameter: 26.5 mm
Finish: Circulation
Edge: Plain
Artist: Claire Watson (obverse), Susannah Blunt (reverse)