The second coin in the Royal Canadian Mint’s Butterflies of Canada series celebrates the red-spotted purple. The $20 coin highlights the intense coloration of the red-spotted purple butterfly, which is engraved and painted with a slight shimmer effect to enhance its look.

This beautifully engraved and painted 99.99% pure silver coin features the red-spotted purple, whose Canadian habitat is largely restricted to southern Ontario. This lovely butterfly's colouring and spot patterns represent an important protective adaptation: the red-spotted purple has evolved to mimic a poisonous butterfly, the Pipevine Swallowtail.

The obverse of the coin carries the Susanna Blunt effigy of Queen Elizabeth II.

The reverse design by Canadian artist Celia Godkin features a profile portrait of a red-spotted purple drinking nectar from the heart of a black-eyed Susan flower, viewed from its right side. 

The butterfly, engraved and coloured in full glorious colour, is viewed from its right side. The viewer is presented with a lovely view of the red-spotted purple's under-wing. Here we see the characteristic dark purple-black colouring, with some of the blue iridescence that characterizes most of the upper side of the delicate wing. The light blue-white markings around the wing contrast prettily with the bright red spots that give this butterfly its name. The butterfly stands on top of an engraved black-eyed Susan flower, drinking nectar from the flower's center.