Canadian Silver Maple Leafs

The Canadian Silver Maple Leaf is recognized as the official silver bullion coin of Canada, and are guaranteed to contain 1 troy ounce of silver and 99.99% purity by the Canadian government.

It is struck by the Royal Canadian Mint, or RCM, which is perhaps the globe’s most prolific producer of coins. The Mint strikes legal tender coinage for several foreign nations in addition to all of the circulating coins and precious metal bullion coins for Canada.

The Royal Canadian Mint is today’s one of the world's most respected mints, and was the first major world mint to release a series of silver bullion coins with an extra-pure .9999 fineness.

About the Silver Maple Leaf

The Canadian Silver Maple Leaf carries legal tender status in Canada, with a designated face value of 5 Dollars. This is the highest monetary value among similar government-issued silver bullion coins weighing one troy ounce.

Because they are legal tender, Canadian Silver Maples are backed by the full faith and credit of the Canadian government for the weight and purity of their fine silver content.

The 1 oz Canadian Silver Maple has been popular since its inception, but has particularly grown in prevalence over the last decade.

Its annual mintage figures rose each year from 2004 to 2011, ballooning from six-figure to eight-figure sales numbers. In fact, the bullion coin has impressed the international community by surpassing the 20 million barrier each of the last two years.

Silver Maple Leaf Design

As a symbol of Canada, the Silver Maple Leaf is one of the most popular silver coins worldwide, as well as one of the most pure. It was first minted in 1988, and has since been released annually with Walter Ott’s classic maple leaf design on the reverse each year.

The maple leaf is the national symbol of Canada, appearing on its national flag, hence the name of the coin.

Susanna Blunt's effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has also been featured on the coin's reverse each year since 2004, preceded by Dora de Pedery-Hunt’s portrait of the Queen from 1990 to 2003. (The Blunt and de Pedery-Hunt images appear only on Canadian coins, and coins minted for other countries by the RCM during this time period, unlike most other depictions of Her Majesty on coins.)

In its first two years of issue (1988 and 1989), the obverse design of the Silver Maple featured Arnold Machin’s effigy of the Queen as a young woman.