Walter Ott

Walter Ott was an Austrian-born engraver, artist and designer who moved to Canada and joined the Royal Canadian Mint’s engraving department in 1964. He served as chief engraver and art director from 1977 until his retirement in 1985.

His best-known design is the sugar maple leaf created for Canada’s first Gold Maple Leaf bullion coin in 1979. The image became the identifying reverse design of the Mint’s wider Maple Leaf bullion family and has continued through later metals, finishes and special issues. Ott’s work gave a familiar national symbol a durable form within modern coin production and collecting.