More than just an eye-catching garden adornment, the sundial is humanity’s oldest known timekeeping device—one that functions just as well today as it did in ancient times. An elaborate and functional showcase of craftsmanship, this limited collectible from the Royal Canadian Mint adds a working sundial to your coin collection. Its embellishment is a rhodium-plated brass gnomon that, when placed in view of the sun and in the direction of true north, casts an angled shadow onto the elaborately engraved 99.99% pure silver base to indicate local solar time.

A Mint first. The coin’s reverse isn’t just an ode to an ancient timekeeping device—it is an actual sundial that is appropriate for mid-northern latitudes. Place it on a flat surface in direct sunlight and with the gnomon pointing north and take note of where the shadow’s outer edge lines up. (Some additional adjustments may be required due to longitude and the time of year.)