Greenland 2012 Polar Bear + Female Greenlandia 1 Piaster Pure Silver Proof For Sale

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In Stock and Ready for Immediate Talisman Coins is absolutely thrilled to be able to bring you this beautiful, proof finish commemorative from Greenland! Featuring an adult polar bear on one side and the seated, allegorical female figure of Greenlandia (with scepter and shield, emblazoned with the official flag of Greenland) on the other, this is the very first commemorative release from Greenland since 1989! Struck in one troy ounce of pure silver, the name of the country is indicated in Danish (Grønland) on the obverse and in the main Greenlandic dialect of Kalaallisut, the official, native Inuit language, as Kalaallit Nunaat, on the reverse. With a mintage limit of only 950, and considering that theGreenland silver piasters of the 1980s trade for well over $200 each in the market (when they can be found at all), we recommend snatching this one up before they're all gone!

(Please see the article at the end of this presentation for more polar bear info!)

Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though geographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe (specifically Norway and later Denmark) for more than a millennium. Greenland is, by area, the world's largest island. With a population of 56,615 (2011 estimate) it is the least densely populated country in the world.

Greenland has been inhabited (though not continuously) by Arctic peoples via Canada for 4,500–5,000 years. In the 10th century Viking Norsemen settled on the uninhabited southern part of Greenland. In the 13th century, the Inuit arrived, and in the late 1400s the Norse colonies disappeared. In the early 18th century, contact between Scandinavia and Greenland was re-established and Denmark established rule over Greenland.

The name Greenland or "Green Land" comes from the early Scandinavian settlers. In the Icelandic sagas, it is said that Norwegian-born Erik the Red was exiled from Iceland for murder. He, along with his extended family and thralls, set out in ships to find a land rumored to lie to the northwest. After settling there, he named the land Grœnland ("Greenland"), supposedly in the hope that the pleasant name would attract settlers - an early (and misleading!) marketing ploy! In fact, the vast majority of Greenland's land mass is covered by ice!

Greenland became a Danish colony in 1814 after being under the rule of Denmark-Norway for centuries. With the Constitution of Denmark of 1953, Greenland became a part of the Danish Realm in a relationship known in Danish as Rigsfællesskabet (Commonwealth of the Realm). In 1979 Denmark granted home rule to Greenland, and in 2008 Greenland voted to transfer more power from the Danish royal government to the local Greenlandic government. This became effective the following year, with the Danish royal government in charge of foreign affairs, security (defense-police-justice), and financial policy.

Symbols of Greenland

Greenland Flag
The flag of Greenland was designed by Greenland native Thue Christiansen. It features two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and red (bottom) with a large disk slightly to the hoist side of center. The top half of the disk is red, the bottom half is white.

Christiansendescribed the white stripe as representing the glaciers and ice cap, which cover more than 80% of the island; the red stripe, the ocean; the red semicircle, the sun, with its bottom part sunk in the ocean; and the white semicircle, the icebergs and pack ice. The design is also reminiscent of the setting sun half-submerged below the horizon and reflected on the sea. The colors of the flag are the same as those of the Dannebrog (official flag of Denmark), symbolizing Greenland's place in the Danish realm.

Greenland Coat of Arms
The coat of arms of Greenland is a blue shield featuring a silver or white polar bear. This symbol was first introduced in the coat of arms of Denmark in 1666 and it is still represented in the arms of the Danish royal family. In a Danish context, the bear was originally shown walking naturally, but an upright position was specified in 1819. The 1470 London Roll shows an arms captioned "Le Roy de Greneland" featuring a shield depicting a polar bear surrounded by three birds. This royal title did not reflect any official title, but merely that the arms could be used by anyone controlling Greenland.

The version currently used by the government of Greenland was designed by Greenlandic artist Jens Rosing and adopted on May 1, 1989 by the Landsting. The polar bear symbolizes the fauna of Greenland and the blue (azure) color designates the Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean by which Greenland is washed. Instead of the Danish version in the royal arms which follows the heraldic tradition in raising the right forepaw, the polar bear on the Greenlandic coat of arms raises the left forepaw, due to the traditional Inuit belief that polar bears are left-handed. A similar arms is used by the official Danish government representative in Greenland. In this case, the bear raises its right paw, and the shield is crowned with the royal crown. The official Danish specification of the arms does not specify which forepaw is raised, so there is no conflict between the different versions.

Packaging
Each coin is sealed in a plastic blister packed with an individually numbered holographic security certificate.

Specifications Country Greenland Year of Issue 2012 Face Value 1 Piaster Weight 31.135 g Diameter 40.00 mm Mintage Limit 950 Finish Proof Composition .999 Fine (Pure) Silver Edge Reeded (milled, serrated) Certificate Individually Numbered Packaging Blister Pack
The Largest Terrestrial Carnivore - Endangered
The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is a bear native largely within the Arctic circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear (together with the omnivorous Kodiak bear, which is approximately the same size). An adult male weighs between 770 and 1,500 pounds (350–680 kg), while an adult female is about half that size. Although it is closely related to the brown bear, the polar bear has evolved to occupy a narrow ecological niche, with many body characteristics adapted for cold temperatures, for moving across snow, ice, and open water, and for hunting the seals which make up most of its diet. Although most polar bears are born on land, they spend most of their time at sea (hence their scientific name meaning "maritime bear") and can hunt consistently only from sea ice, so they spend much of the year on the frozen sea.

As of 2008, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) reports that the global population of polar bears is only 20,000 to 25,000, and is declining. In 2006, the IUCN upgraded the polar bear from a species of least concern to a vulnerable species. It cited a "suspected population reduction of great than 30% within three generations (45 years)", due primarily to global warming. Other risks to the polar bear include pollution in the form of toxic contaminants, conflicts with shipping, stresses from recreational polar-bear watching, and oil and gas exploration and development. The IUCN also cited a "potential risk of over-harvest" through legal and illegal hunting.

A little good news - on 15 May 2008, the United States listed the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act and banned all importing of polar bear trophies. Importing products made from polar bears had been prohibited from 1972 to 1994 under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and restricted between 1994 and 2008. Under those restrictions, permits from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service were required to import sport-hunted polar bear trophies taken in hunting expeditions in Canada. The permit process required that the bear be taken from an area with quotas based on sound management principles. Since 1994, more than 800 sport-hunted polar bear trophies have been imported into the U.S.

Unfortunately, Canada has not followed suite with a hunting ban. The territory of Nunavut accounts for 80% of Canadian kills. In 2005, the government of Nunavut increased the quota from 400 to 518 bears, despite protests from some scientific groups. In two areas where harvest levels have been increased based on increased sightings, science-based studies have indicated declining populations, and a third area is considered data-deficient. While most of that quota is hunted by the indigenous Inuit people, a growing share is sold to recreational hunters (0.8% in the 1970s, 7.1% in the 1980s, and 14.6% in the 1990s). The Government of the Northwest Territories maintain their own quota of 72–103 bears within the Inuvialuit communities of which some are set aside for sports hunters.

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