The Canadian Maple Leaf

The Canadian Maple Leaf that is produced by the Royal Canadian Mint is the official gold bullion for Canada and has the highest gold content purity compared to any other bullion coin at a fineness of .9999 which makes it 24 Karats and containing nothing else but gold extracted from Canadian gold mines. The coin was introduced in 1979 when there was a global boycott of the African Krugerrand due to the apartheid regime. The Maple Leaf gold coin can be purchased in a variety of denominations starting from 1/25 oz, 1/20 oz, 1/10 oz, ¼ oz, ½ oz and 1 oz with legal tender value (only in Canada) for $ 1, $ 5, $ 10, $ 20 and $ 50 respectively (the legal tender value is imprinted on these coins). They also had a coin that was minted in 1994 with a $ 2.00 face value (1/15 oz) however the issue did not do so well in the market and minting the coin was discontinued and they remain the only batch that was minted at that face value.
The Canadian Maple Leaf Gold Bullion coin was obtainable in (0.9995 fineness) platinum according to the denomination of the gold Maple Leafs since 1988 along with the (0.9999 fineness) silver maple leaf bullion with the face value of $ 5. In 2005 the (0.9995 fineness) palladium bullion was introduced with a face value of $ 50 (this bullion was subject to Canadian taxation). The biggest event that took place involving bullion and the Royal Canadian Mint was when the royal mint unveiled the Gold Maple Leaf Coin that was measured at 50 cm in diameter and 3 cm in thickness weighing at 100 Kg carrying the value of 1 million dollars. Designed by Stanley Witten, the main objective of the massive gold bullion coin was to get the Maple Leaf coins into a better market position in the international arena. The Royal Mint intended the coin to be a ‘one off’ show piece, but when they were approached by interested parties, the mint decided to manufacture them upon request and sold for between 2.5 million and 3 million dollars.
The gold maple leaf however is susceptible to bear signs of physical fatigue and this is due to the pureness of the gold makes it soft and causes it to easily get ‘dented’ when it is handled without proper care. The Canadian Gold Maple Leaf also has been minted for special occasions such as the commemoration of anniversaries and the Olympics. These bullion coins however carry a slightly bigger value than the coin precious metal content due to numismatic value. Numismatic value is another fact that gold coin collectors keep tabs on as some coins have been known to increase in value significantly due to their rarity especially those that are minted under the ‘limited edition series’ as they are quickly snapped up by gold coin collectors and from then on their value is based on ‘third part trading value’ among gold coin collectors.