Canadian Platinum Maple Leaf
| Canada | |
| Value | 50 Canadian dollars (face value only) |
|---|---|
| Mass | 31.110 g (1.00 troy oz) |
| Diameter | 30 mm |
| Edge | Serrated |
| Composition | 99.95% Pt |
| Years of minting | 1988–2002 (five denominations) 2009–present (1 oz only) |
| Obverse | |
| Design | Queen Elizabeth II |
| Designer | Susanna Blunt |
| Design date | 2003 |
| Reverse | |
| Design | Maple Leaf |
| Designer | RCM engravers |
| Design date | 1988 |
The Canadian Platinum Maple Leaf is the official bullion platinum coin of Canada. First issued by the Royal Canadian Mint in 1988, it was available until 2002 in five different denominations, all of which are marked as containing .9995 pure platinum. The bullion coin was partly reintroduced in 2009 in the form of the 1 troy ounce denomination, featuring a new portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse. The coins have legal tender status in Canada, but as is often the case with bullion coins, the face values of these coins are purely symbolic and do not reflect their true value.
The Canadian Maple Leaf series began in 1979, when the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) introduced the Canadian Gold Maple Leaf coin. It consisted of 1 troy ounce of .999 pure gold – later refined to .9999 pure in 1984 – and contained no alloys within it; a rarity at the time. Due to the widespread success of the coin on the international bullion market – which saw the Gold Maple Leaf secure "the top sales spot" to become "the world's most successful gold coin" – the Mint decided to introduce silver and platinum bullion coins to the series in 1988. In that year, Canada ranked third in the world in platinum production, trailing only South Africa and the Soviet Union.
The production of Platinum Maple Leaf coins began on September 22, 1988, at a "special striking ceremony" organized by the RCM, where the first Canadian Silver Maple Leaf was also made. The president of the largest precious metal distributor in Japan, Junichiro Tanaka, was given the honour of striking the first platinum coin with a coin press weighing 140 tonnes. At the time, the Gold Maple Leaf was extremely popular in Japan, with 1.1 million ounces of the coin sold there from 1984 onwards. This represented more than 70% of the market share in that country.
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