The Canadian Royal Mint will release a fully functioning sundial coin expected to ship on 12 December, 2024.  The obverse is a profile of His Majesty, Charles III (designed by Steve Rosati) and the reverse is a full 3-dimensional sundial (designed by Anna Bucciarelli).  With a highly decorated dial face and gnomon, the dial is designed for 45° N latitude, telling time from 6am to 6pm.

The first minting of 5,000 coins is already subscribed, and we hope there will be a second minting.  The coin is 99.99% pure silver with a gnomon "styled to complement the coin base's ornate design" made of rhodium-plated brass   The coin is 38mm in diameter, weighing 31.30 g.

From the Canadian Royal Mint website: "This sundial is appropriate for mid-northern latitudes. To use your coin as a sundial, place it on a flat surface in direct sunlight and with the gnomon pointing north. Take note of where the shadow’s outer edge lines up, and that should indicate the approximate local solar time. (Like any sundial, some additional adjustments may be required due to longitude and the time of year.)" We assume of course that these adjustments are mathematical!  Longitude adjustment is made with reference to your local time zone. For example Calgary at 114° W is in the Mountain Standard Time Zone of 105° W.  That is, Calgary is 9° further west of the time zone meridian.  Each degree is 4 minutes of time so the sundial shadow West of the time zone is 9 x 4 =36 minutes "early".  (East of the time zone is "late").  If the clock says noon, the Calgary sundial shadow will show approximately 11:24 am (with an additional correction due to the sun's time excursion of +/- 15 min. called the Equation of Time).

Read more about the sundial coin at: https://www.mint.ca/en/shop/coins/2024/fine-silver-coin-the-sundial

And visit their webpage  https://www.mint.ca/en/blog/2024-10-six-canadian-sundials-to-discover highlighting six Canadian sundials - a different type of sundial for each of Canada's six time zones.