In Stock and Ready for Immediate Shipment! Long SOLD OUT at the French Mint! America's greatest natural wonder is dramatically rendered on this new, low-mintage silver proof! France has just announced the second coin in its program to honor the greatest natural and cultural sites in the world, those on the UNESCO World Heritage list. This is the Grand Canyon, America's own natural wonder, complete with a bald eagle soaring overhead! With incredibly low mintage limits of only 500 for gold and 5,000 for silver (total mintage program-wide is only 5,500!), this is sure to be a quick sell out! With its all-American theme (notice the Old West style type used for the words "Grand Canyon") and the incredibly detailed design for which Monnaie de Paris' engraving studio is famed, you should get yours today! The Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a very deep, steep-sided gorge carved by the Colorado River, found in the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, one of the first national parks in the United States. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of preservation of the Grand Canyon area, having visited on numerous occasions to hunt and enjoy the scenery. The longstanding scientific consensus has been that the canyon was created by the Colorado River over a period of six million years, but research released in 2008 suggests a much longer 17 million year time span. The canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, ranges in width from 4 to 18 miles (6.4 to 29 km) and attains a depth of more than one mile (1.6 km). Nearly two billion years of the Earth's history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted. During prehistory, the area was inhabited by Native Americans who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves. The Pueblo people considered the Grand Canyon a holy site and made pilgrimages to it. The first European known to have viewed the Grand Canyon was García López de Cárdenas from Spain, who arrived in 1540. In 1869, Major John Wesley Powell, a one-armed Civil War veteran with a thirst for knowledge and adventure, made the first recorded journey through the canyon on the Colorado River. Powell referred to the sedimentary rock units exposed in the canyon as "leaves in a great story book". UNESCO UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations founded on November 16, 1945 and headquartered in Paris, France. UNESCO is perhaps best know for its list of World Heritage Sites, by which it designates certain natural features, monuments or cities as being of particular natural, historic and/or cultural significance to the entire Earth, and therefore worthy of preservation. The Grand Canyon is the second in the series of UNESCO World Heritage Sites from Monnaie de Paris. It is available as a gold proof with a mintage of 500 and a silver proof with a mintage of 5,000. Obverse A frosted cameo depiction of an American bald eagle soaring high above the Colorado River as it wends its way through the dramatic grandeur that is the Grand Canyon. The legends GRAND CANYON (in old west style type) and RF, for "République Française" ("The French Republic") also appear. Reverse The UNESCO world headquarters building is depicted below the UNESCO logo. The legend ORGANISATION DES NATIONS UNIES POUR l'ÉDUCATION, LA SCIENCE ET LA CULTURE translates as "United Nations Organization for Eduction, Science and Culture". The date and denomination are also indicated. Packaging Each coin is encapsulated and presented in the traditional, blue Monnaie de Paris gift box with gilt lettering. An individually numbered certificate of authenticity is included. Specifications Country France Year of Issue 2008 Face Value 1.5 Euro Weight 22.2 g Diameter 37.00 mm Mintage Limit 5,000 Finish Proof Composition .900 Fine Silver Edge Plain Certificate Individually Numbered Copyright © 2021 Talisman World Coins and Medals. All Rights Reserved.