Canadian Gold Coins

Canadian $20 1967 Reverse



Canadian $20 1967 Obverse

Canada's first coins were struck in England at the Royal Mint in London and at the Heaton Mint in Birmingham. Starting from January 2, 1908, Canadian coins were minted at the Royal Canadian Mints at Ottawa, bearing the mint mark "C". First Canadian gold coins were minted in 1908 and they were gold sovereigns of Edward VII. Canadian gold sovereigns were minted until 1919. Later 5 dollar and 10 dollar gold coins were also minted for three years from 1912 to 1914. In 1919, the issue of Canadian gold coins was stopped and no Canadian gold coins were minted until 1960s.

There was one issue of a 20-dollar gold coin in 1967 to commemorate Canadian Centennial Anniversary and no Canadian gold coins were issued for almost another ten years. Starting from 1976, Canadian gold coins had a new birth and every year since then there was at least one issue of a 100-dollar commemorative gold coin. Later, other denominations of Canadian gold coins were introduced as well, including 150 dollars, 175 dollars, 200 dollars, 300 dollars, and 350 dollars.

When talking about Canadian gold coins, you have to mention Canadian Maple Leaf gold coins. They were first minted in 1979 and the Maple Leaf was the first "pure" gold bullion coin with the gold composition of 99.9% (0.999). The purity of the coins was uplifted to 99.99% (0.9999) in 1983, but that made little or no difference to the value of the coins. Originally, the Maple Leaf was minted only in one size – one troy ounce of pure gold with denomination of 50 dollars – but later as the popularity of bullion gold coins was growing, smaller fractions and sizes were added in different years. Currently, they're six different sizes and they are: 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/10, 1/15, and 1/20 troy ounces. Smaller sizes of the Maple Leaf can hardly be called gold bullion coins due to their high premium (up to 50%) and would not be a wise investment in gold if you decided to; a full troy ounce Maple Leaf gold coin would be no doubt the best choice for investment in Canadian gold coins.

You can see current listings for Canadian Gold Coins here: