Canadian Gold Coins

Canada is one of the earliest issuer of gold coins. Canada has issued its own gold coins since 1912, in fact we can also say that Canada started the issue in 1862 we include the issues from British Colombia and Newfoundland. In 1979 the gold coins containing the impression of the maple leaf was issued. These coins were introduced in the one ounce and fractional weights. The Canadian gold maple leaf is produced by the royal Canadian mint. This Canadian gold maple leaf coin is also the official gold bullion of Canada. This coin was first conceived by the famous man Walter Ott. This coin is one of the purest gold coins it has 24 carats of gold and contains virtually no base metal. These gold coins are made from gold got exclusively from the gold mines of Canada.

Earlier the only coin available in Canada was the Krugerrand. This coin was not widely available at that time because of an economic boycott. Thus this situation gave rise to the issue of the Canadian gold coin in 1979. Coins minted between 1979 and 1981 have gold content of .999.

The coins that are offered in Canada are of different weights but the constant thing about them is the same amount of gold that is present in the gold coins. The coins are of 1 ounce, ½ ounce, ¼ ounce, 1/10 ounce and also 1/20 ounce. These coins have the status of legal tender in Canada but like all legal tenders its face value is merely symbolic, the actual values of these coins are much lower than the face value.

The ½, ¼, 1/10 and 1/20 coins are almost identical in design to the 1 ounce. The only difference is that the markings on the obverse and the reverse side of the coin. These sides indicate the weight and the face value of the coins respectively. It was in the year 1994 that 1/15 ounce god and platinum coins were issued. These coins were mainly issued for the use by jewelers.

Since 1988 Maple leaf coins have been struck in .9995 platinum. These have the same weight and the face value as the gold coins. Since 1988 there has also been an issue of a .9999 purity silver maple leaf. This maple leaf has a face value of 5$. In 2005 a .9995 purity palladium Maple leaf of one ounce was introduced. These coins had a face value of 50$.

On may 3, 2007 the Canadian government came up with a gold coin that had a face value of one million dollars although the intrinsic value of that coin was over 2 million dollars. Till now there has been five confirmed order for that coin.

canadian_gold_coins