Investing in Canadian Silver Coins
The Royal Canadian Mint is one of the most highly respected, state-of-the-art facilities in the world. The official sovereign mint of Canada, RCM is best known for the production of the nation’s official bullion coins, the Canadian Maple Leaf. Available in gold, platinum, and palladium, the Canadian Maple Leaf silver coin is also available and is an extremely popular coin with investors around the globe. However, the Royal Canadian Mint boasts more than just the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf and its counterparts. With JM Bullion, you can buy silver and learn more about popular Canadian silver coins.
Canadian Silver Maple Leaf Coins
As mentioned above, the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf is the official silver bullion coin of Canada and one of four metallic options in the series. The Gold Maple Leaf debuted first in 1979; and though the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf was not one of the first silver bullion coins offered, it did mark a significant expansion of available silver coinage. The Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coin debuted in 1988 and became the first-ever .9999 pure silver bullion coin available to investors. The Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coinage features 1 Troy oz of .9999 pure silver with a face value of $5 (CAD) backed by Canada’s government. The designs on the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf include:
- Obverse features the right-profile portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. Her Majesty’s effigy is updated on occasion to reflect her age, with most Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coins featuring either Dora de Pedery-Hunt’s third-generation portrait of the Queen (1990-2002) or the fourth-generation image of Queen Elizabeth II created by Susanna Blunt (2003-present).
- Reverse includes the famed sugar maple leaf design created in 1979 by Walter Ott. This design features on the reverse of all Canadian Maple Leaf coins, with the silver coin bearing engravings of “Canada,” “9999,” “1 oz Fine Silver Argent Pur.”
Canadian Silver Maple Leaf Privy Coins
Over the course of time, the Royal Canadian Mint has used the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf as a vehicle for delivering privy marked coins. The popularity of the Silver Maple Leaf is further enhanced and transformed into a collectible option with unique privy marks added to the coins. Examples of unique privy marks offered by the mint include, but are not limited to, the following issues:
- Lunar Privy Marks: The Royal Canadian Mint will often use the Silver Maple Leaf to promote Lunar Series designs. The 2016 1 oz Monkey Privy is a perfect example. The coin’s reverse face includes a small money privy mark near the stem of the sugar maple leaf.
- Bigfoot Privy Mark: Conspiracy theorists and numismatists come together with the 2016 Big Foot Privy Mark. This particular Silver Maple Leaf features a privy mark depicting the infamous beast as captured in the Patterson-Gimlin film from 1967 which supposedly featured the image of a Bigfoot in the woods of northern California.
- Four Leaf Clover Privy Mark: Celebrate your Irish roots or your belief in the power of good luck with the 2016 Four Leaf Clover Privy Silver Maple Leaf. This coin features a small four leaf clover privy mark near the stem of the sugar maple leaf.
Canadian Wildlife Series Silver Coins
The Canadian Wildlife Series silver coins are among the most popular collectible bullion coins from the Royal Canadian Mint. The six-coin collection launched in 2011 and featured 1 Troy oz silver coins with .9999 pure silver content and a face value of $5(CAD). Each of the available coin designs was limited to a total mintage of just 1,000,000 coins. The series included two new designs each year through 2013 and included:
- Timber Wolf (2011)
- Grizzly (2011)
- Cougar (2012)
- Moose (2012)
- Wood Bison (2013)
- Pronghorn Antelope (2013)
Wild Canada Series Silver Coins
The Wild Canada Series is the ultimate combination of the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf bullion coins and the designs of the Canadian Wildlife Series. Following a similar design series release schedule, the Wild Canada Series of coins used the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf as the delivery vehicle for silver coins with privy marks reflecting the creatures from the Canadian Wildlife Series. The privy marks were struck on the reverse side along with the sugar maple leaf design and each coin was a reverse-proof specimen. A reverse-proof coin has the typical hallmarks of a proof coin, but the strong, frosted elements are on the background field and the deeply-mirrored, clear fields are on the design sets. The Wild Canada Series debuted from the Royal Canadian Mint in 2016 with a Timber Wolf privy.
Birds of Prey Series Silver Coins
The Royal Canadian Mint has issued two different Birds of Prey Silver Coins. The original set featured 1 Troy oz of .9999 pure silver with new reverse designs between 2014 and 2015. The four-coin collection debuted with the Peregrine Falcon coin in 2014 and all four bird designs in the series were created by Emily Damstra. Ms. Damstra has a history of working with the Royal Canadian Mint on wildlife-themed coinage and was behind the creation of the final two designs in the Canadian Wildlife Series. Designs in the initial Birds of Prey Series included:
- Peregrine Falcon (2014)
- Bald Eagle (2014)
- Red-Tailed Hawk (2015)
- Great Horned Owl (2015)
Following the immense success of the initial Birds of Prey Series of silver coins, the Royal Canadian Mint re-released the designs on a second Birds of Prey collection. This time, the designs were available as reverse-proof coins. The Birds of Prey Reverse Proof coins proved equally popular to the original collection.
Benefits of Buying the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf and other Canadian Silver
Beginning in 2015, the Royal Canadian Mint undertook an extensive program to add security features to its coins, and the first to receive these new anti-counterfeiting measures was the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf. The first addition was the use of laser-etched radial lines on the reverse and obverse sides of the coin. Depending upon the design of the Canadian silver coin in question, the radial lines on the reverse covered either the entire background or only a portion along the outer rim. The goal of the radial lines is to deflect light in different directions, making it more difficult to create counterfeits.
Within a year, the Royal Canadian Mint also introduced a maple leaf privy mark to the reverse side of coins. This micro-engraved privy mark contains the coin’s year of issue with the final two digits inside of the privy mark, with the numbers only visible under magnification. The latest beneficial upgrade to Canadian silver coins came in 2018 and is less about security, and more about visual beauty.
The Royal Canadian Mint’s MINTSHIELD technology debuted in 2018 to solve the problem of milky spots, or white spots, on silver coinage. MINTSHIELD was developed through extensive testing to help maintain the beauty of silver coins for a longer period of time and avoid a common issue that can occur with silver during the coining process. The MINTSHIELD technology consists of an application which is invisible to the naked eye, and which protects the intrinsic value of silver coins within detracting from the metal content or purity in any way. The 2018 Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coins were the very first to receive the new MINTSHIELD application.
Buying Canadian Silver Coins
The Royal Canadian Mint has no shortage of bullion and proof silver coins available. Investors and collectors alike will find something to purchase from the mint, whether you want the investment-grade Canadian Silver Maple Leaf or seek the low-mintage offerings of programs like the Birds of Prey, there’s something here for you. If you have any questions about Royal Canadian Mint silver coins, please don’t hesitate to ask. JM Bullion customer service is available to you help you at 800-276-6508, online using our live chat, and via our email address.
