Canada Began making gold coins in 1979. At that time there was a huge demand as inflation quickly depreciated the value of the dollar and people looked for safer ways to keep their money. Since gold and silver have maintained their value steadily over time people naturally leaned towards that.

Normally investors would choose gold bullion from South Africa in the form of the Krugerrand. But the international community were effectively boycotting the country because of their oppressive apartheid policies at that time. The United States did not have a gold coin at that time so Canada jumped on the opportunity.

To make the Canadian Maple Leaf unique The Royal Canadian Mint decided to use the latest in refinery technology and have ISO 9001 facilities that produce the purest gold coins in the world at .9999 purity.

The 24K gold makes the coin very soft but bright and very attractive. handling the coin should be done with absolute care. The Canadian Mint rationalized that the Maple Leaf coin was designed to be stored and collected not handled on a day to day basis.

The Maple Leaf is also made of 100% Canadian gold. No Maple Leaf coins were ever mined under oppressive foreign governments or dictatorship regimes.

The coin is produced in denominations of 1/20, 1/10, 1/4, 1/2, and 1oz sizes.