Without question, the Canadian Maple Leaf Series of bullion coins represents the most popular choice from the RCM. The coins are available in gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Each of the coins has their own, unique history that starts with the Gold Maple Leaf coin.

The Canadian Gold Maple Leaf was introduced in 1979 as a .999 pure gold coin and was just the second gold bullion coin offered to private investors behind the 1967 introduction of the South African Gold Krugerrand. Since November 1982, the Gold Maple Leaf has been struck with .9999 pure gold content. It was the first .9999 pure gold coin in the world and is today available in 1 oz, 1/2 oz, 1/4 oz, 1/10 oz, and 1/20 oz options.

The Silver Maple Leaf coin was introduced in 1988 and was just the third silver bullion coin introduced behind the Chinese Silver Panda and American Silver Eagle. The Canadian Silver Maple Leaf was the world’s first-ever .9999 pure silver coin and is available, like many other silver bullion coins, in 1 Troy oz weight.

The Canadian Platinum Maple Leaf Coin has a unique history. The coins were introduced in 1988 alongside the Silver Maple Leaf, with available weights including a 1 Troy oz coin as well as fractional weights of 1/2 oz, 1/4 oz, and 1/10 oz. In 1993, a 1/20 oz coin was added and the Platinum Maple Leaf continued until 2002 when it was suspended. The RCM reintroduced the Platinum Maple Leaf in 2009, but this time it was only available as a 1 Troy oz coin, with all coins featuring .9995 pure platinum.

Finally, there is the Canadian Palladium Maple Leaf. This coin has had a rocky past. It was originally offered from 2005 to 2007, again in 2009, and has seen regular production since 2015. The Palladium Maple Leaf contains .9995 pure palladium and is available only in a 1 Troy oz weight.

Canadian Gold and Silver Commemorative Bullion

Beginning in the 2010s, the Royal Canadian Mint issued a variety of commemorative gold and silver bullion coin collections. Among these collections, most had .9999 pure metal content whether it was gold or silver. The following is a list of some of the popular series issued by the Royal Canadian Mint during this time period, some of which are no longer in production while others remain ongoing:

• Canadian Wildlife Series: The Canadian Wildlife Series kicked off these series of commemorative coins. The RCM offered the coins in .9999 pure silver with six designs representing animal species commonly found throughout Canada, from the Grey Wolf to the Wood Bison. Each coin had a limited mintage and the series featured two releases per year during its run from 2011 to 2013.

• Wild Canada Series: The Wild Canada Series of silver coins used the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf as the delivery vehicle for a second generation of Canadian Wildlife Series images. Each of the animals featured in the Canadian Wildlife Series featured as a privy mark on the reverse side of Canadian Silver Maple Leaf Coins. As with the original series, these privy mark Silver Maple Leafs had limited mintage figures.

• Call of the Wild Series: The Call of the Wild Series is a unique collectible option which features .99999 pure gold content on each 1 Troy oz gold coin. The series includes one release per year and launched in 2014 with the Howling Wolf. Subsequent releases include the 2015 Growling Cougar, the 2016 Roaring Grizzly Bear, the 2017 Bugling Elk, and the 2018 Screaming Eagle. Each design has the same obverse design and a common reverse design element of radiating lines meant to emulate the “call” of each wild animal.

• Birds of Prey Series: The Canadian Birds of Prey Series was a biannual release that included a total of four designs and debuted in 2014. The coins featured .9999 pure silver content and a 1 Troy oz weight. The birds depicted in the collection include, in order, the 2014 Peregrine Falcon, 2014 Bald Eagle, 2015 Red-Tailed Hawk, and 2015 Great Horned Owl. The designs were also recently re-released in 2017 as reverse proof specimens with the same four birds featured.

Canadian Gold Bullion Bars

The Royal Canadian Mint is one of the few major mint institutions in the world, along with the Perth Mint of Australia, to offer investors the option of purchasing .9999 pure gold bullion bars as well as gold, silver, platinum, and palladium coinage. You can buy RCM gold bars in a variety of weights, but all feature the same design elements. The official logo of the RCM is featured on the obverse side, a Canadian maple leaf with the name of the mint in both English and French. Original bars ship inside of protective packaging and come with an assay card.