What does the Canadian Maple Leaf Gold Coin have to do with South Africa? Back in 1973, the United Nations declared South African apartheid as “a crime against humanity.” Over the next two decades, Canada, the USA and many other countries introduced sanctions against South Africa for their apartheid policies. The Canadian sanctions included banning flights between the two countries, denying visas to athletes from South Africa, stopping sales of computers and other equipment to the country and discouraging the sale of the Krugerrand. In 1978, Jean-Pierre Goyer, the Supply Minister, announced that the Royal Canadian Mint was to produce gold bullion coins in order to compete with the South African Kruggerand coin in global gold sales.
The Royal Canadian Mint first produced the one ounce Canadian Maple Leaf Gold Coin in 1979. This made Canada the first nation to mint 99.99 percent pure gold as gold bullion coins. Before the Gold Maple Leafs, the only option to own one ounce gold bullion was the Krugerrand. The Maple Leaf coin features the image of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse along with the denomination of 50 dollars and the date of issue. The reverse has the well known Maple Leaf image with the name Canada and the 0.9999 purity printed on it. Both English and French are Canada’s national languages, so the words “1 OZ OR PUR” translate to “1 Pure Golden Ounce.”
The Canadian government guarantees the weight, purity and legal tender value of all gold Maple Leaf coins. This is a major reason why these coins have been recognized globally since they were introduced in 1979. The purity of the one ounce gold coin is 99.99 percent or 24 karats. In fact, the Royal Canadian Mint actually markets the gold coin as the “international symbol of purity.” From 1979 to 1983 the coins were minted with 0.999 pure gold, and in 1983 the gold content was increased to 0.9999. For this reason, the coins should be carefully handled because they can scratch more easily than gold coins that are not as pure.
The Canadian Maple Leaf Gold Coin is one of the best ways to invest in gold. The coins have legal tender status, so they cannot be taxed when crossing borders like gold bullion bars might be. Transactions using your gold are considered to be final, so there are no banking charge-backs. If you purchase less than 10,000 dollars worth, your transaction will be anonymous. The price of gold has been going up so now is a perfect time to invest.
Canadian Maple Leaf Gold Coin
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