The Canadian Silver Maple Leaf is the official silver bullion coin of Canada and is produced by the Royal Canadian Mint.
The Canadian Silver Maple Leaf Bullion Coin is IRA Eligible
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The Royal Canadian Mint
The Royal Canadian Mint, which produces the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf bullion coin, was officially opened on January 2, 1908, with the minting of a single fifty cent piece as an extension of Britain’s Royal Mint. A few years later in the fall of 1911, the gold refinery was complete and helped supply much of Britain’s debtors with gold bars as form of payment. The Royal Canadian Mint officially changed hands in 1931, with the passage of the Heritage building on Sussex Drive, the surrounding land and the entire minting process, making it a solely Canadian operation. Today, under sole Canadian direction, the Royal Canadian Mint is a for profit corporation with sole responsibility of producing a fair return on investment for the corporations only shareholder, the Government of Canada.
The Canadian Silver Maple Leaf Bullion Coin
The Royal Canadian Mint produced the first Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coin in 1988 and it became one of only a handful of government issued coins minted out of 99.99% Silver with a face value of $5 Canadian Dollars. Most government issued silver coins are 99.9% silver with a face value of $1.00.
Obverse and Reverse
On the obverse is a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, while on the reverse is an image of a maple leaf. Both the image of the queen and the Maple Leaf vary year to year, so no two years are identical.
Packaging
The Canadian Silver Maple leaf comes direct from the Royal Canadian Mint in a yellow mint sealed monster box of 500 coins. Within each sealed box is 20 tubes of 25 coins each. If you purchase 500 Canadian Silver Maple Leafs you will receive a box sealed directly from the mint. If you were to purchase the Silver Maple Leafs in increments of 25, the coins will be shipped in a tube direct from a sealed box. If you purchase in any other increment, the coins will be shipped in soft plastic flips.
Internationally Recognized
Because of the Canadian Mints commitment to continual improvement in refining techniques it most often likes to refer to its Maple Leafs as the International Symbol of Purity and for such reasons have been internationally recognized since 1988.
Weight/Dimensions/Face Value
The 1 troy ounce coin weighs 1 troy ounces (31.103 grams), has a diameter of 38 millimeters, a thickness of 2.87 millimeters and a face value of $5 Canadian Dollars.
Collector Notes:
Silver Maples Leaf Coins are not all the same, and because of this many carry a substantial premium over the coin’s intrinsic silver value. Variations in Silver Maple Leaf coins can be broadly grouped by the following categories:
- year minted
- special editions
- privy marks.
Year: Annual mintage of the Silver Maple Leaf coin is not set, and fluctuates year to year based on investor demand. Since the coins inception in 1988, annual mintages have gyrated widely. The first 3 years saw demand top 1 million coins, however, this dropped off significantly in the 1990s. By 1996 annual mintage of the Silver Maple Leaf had fallen to 250,445. The following year saw Silver Maple Leaf annual mintage fall to just 100,970, the lowest on record. The low mintage for a number of years, including 1996 and 1997 has made certain Silver Maples valuable to collectors.
By the mid 2000s, the annual mintage of Silver Canadian Maple Leaf coins began to rise significantly. This trend was particularly pronounced following the global financial crisis in 2008. By 2006, the annual mintage of Silver Canadian Maple Leafs had exceeded 2 million, increasing every subsequent year, and reaching over 17 million in 2011.
Special Editions: The Royal Canadian Mint has produced a wide variety of special edition Silver Canadian Maple Leafs. These include Colored Silver Maple Leaf Coins, Hologram Silver Maple Leaf Coins, and Olympic Silver Maple Leaf coins. The mintages of “special edition” Silver Maple Leaf coins generally fall below 30,000. Some notable exceptions include the Olympic Silver Maple Leaf coins which had a 79,278 mintage for the Ice Hockey Silver Maple Leaf coin. The Inukshuk Silver Maple Leaf coin had a 937,839 mintage. Because of the extremely low mintage for most special edition Silver Maple Leaf Coins, collector interest place a premium price on many of these coins.
Privy Marks: Privy marks are small engravings that are located on the coins reverse, just below the maple leaf. The mintages of Silver Canadian Maple Leaf Coins with a particular privy mark generally range from as low as 5,000 to 25,000. However, certain privy marks had extensive mintages exceeding 500,000. Some Silver Maple Leaf Coins with a low mintage privy mark command a substantial premium over spot.