Description
One of the most popular way to start investing in gold is to buy gold maple leaf coins. 1oz gold Maple Leaf are the oldest and most well know 1 ounce gold bullion coins for investment purpose, after the Krugerrand and the Britannia.
Design of the Gold Maple Leaf
Obverse
The observe displays the profile of the Queen Elizabeth II. The profile can displays the Queen young or old profile vary depending on the year.
Reverse
The reverse displays a maple leaf, Canada’s national emblem. The design of the reverse has never changed since the introduction of the gold maple leaf in 1979. Some security measures were added, such as radial lines and a microscopic maple leaf that acts as a coin fingerprint.
The obverse design has changed over the years, with a new portrait of the Queen Elizabeth II.
- 1979 – 1989 – 39 years old Queen Elizabeth II.
- 1990 – 2004 – 64 years old Queen Elizabeth II.
- 2005 – Present – 79 years old Queen Elizabeth II (Susanna Blunt’s design)
Why buy gold Maple Leaf coins ?
A distinctive feature of the 1oz gold Maple Leaf is its 24 carats gold purity. Therefore, the canadian maple leaf is smaller in size. It also have a more shining yellow colour compared to the 22 carats gold Krugerrand or Britannia coins. This feature makes the gold Maple Leaf coin softer and fragile. Therefore, it is recommended to store it in plastic tubes or capsules for transport.
The canadian gold Maple Leaf is ideal pure gold bullion coin for private investors who want simply to buy and store physical gold. As this Canadian gold bullion coin contains exactly one ounce of gold, it makes really easy to track what is the value of the gold Maple Leaf by comparing it with the gold spot price.
One of the core feature of the gold Maple Leaf is its attractive design.
History of the gold Maple Leaf
Originally, Canadian currency was stroked by the Royal Mint in London. But Canada was growing as a nation and with the discovery of gold in British Columbia and the Yukon, it became necessary to refine the large amount of gold mined on site instead of shipping the gold to the United Kingdom. These events facilitated the need for the nation to create its own mint. In 1908, the Royal Canadian Mint was born with its first coining facility based in Ottawa. The Royal Canadian Mint operated for nearly 70 years with only its Ottawa facility. But since the Royal Canadian Mint had to turn to the United States to produce circulation currency for the nation, the Royal Canadian Mint decided to expand capacity and created a second branch in Winnipeg in 1976.
As governments started to issue gold bullion coins, the gold Maple Leaf became the second gold bullion coin available for private investors after the South African gold Krugerrand. The maple leaf increased rapidly in popularity because of the economic boycott of South Africa due to apartheid. Canada was the first country to introduce an entirely pure gold bullion coin in the gold bullion market. The gold Maple Leaf became available to public in 1979.
The first one ounce versions of the gold Maple Leaf were made of .999 pure gold. In November 1982, the Royal Canadian Mint improved its minting technology to increase the purity to .9999 pure gold. In 2007, the Royal Canadian Mint managed to achieve a degree of purity of .99999. Today, more than 1 billions per year are minted at the Royal Canadian Mint. In addition to its popular Canadian Maple Leaf series of gold, silver, and platinum bullion coins, the mint also strikes currency for as many as a dozen other countries.
Why buy 1 oz gold coins ?
One ounce gold coins are popular in the gold bullion market. They are a great way to split your precious metal holdings in smaller fractions. In fact, a large gold bar is not always the best option. Even if you will pay less per gram with gold bars, a large gold bar will restrict the fungibility of your investment. Buying 1 ounce gold bullion coins make your investment more divisible and liquid. In fact, you can trade few gold coins when you need cash, instead of selling a whole bar at once. On the other hand, a large gold bar will be more difficult to convert into cash. Therefore, it is worth paying a slightly higher premium above the gold spot spot price.
