The Silver Maple Leaf (SML) celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2018 as a highly popular bullion investment coin. Its $5 face value remains the highest for anything comparable on the world market. The SML is produced by the Royal Canadian Mint, recognized for its remarkable craftsmanship and leading-edge coin security features. These unique enhancements, in place since 2014, include radial lines in the field that are precisely machined to within microns on the master tooling and a small textured maple leaf with the last two digits of the mint year.

The features do not detract from the simple beauty of the coin. In fact, the radial lines create an added element of light diffraction that makes the Silver Maple Leaf stand out as one of the most visually appealing bullion pieces to be found anywhere. The quality of metal, at .9999, is unimpeachable. 1 troy ounce of silver, mined, refined, and minted in Canada represents the spirit, as the nation’s anthem proclaims, of “the true North, strong and free.”

The design elements of the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf have never changed in its 30-year history. The obverse depicts a right-facing portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, Canada’s titular monarch since 1952. The actual effigy has changed twice since 1988; the present incarnation, unlike the previous two, portrays her without a crown, recalling the image of her father, King George VI. The design is stunningly simple, with its field of radiating lines and inscriptions of ELIZABETH II (above) and 5 DOLLARS 2018 (below). Turn the coin over to find the iconic single maple leaf, deeply yet delicately veined in a way that makes it appear as though it had been picked up from a forest floor in late autumn. Above it, CANADA; on either side, 9999; around the bottom, FINE SILVER 1 OZ ARGENT PUR, and; to the right of the leaf stem, the mint mark of an 18 within a maple leaf within another maple leaf. The field of this side of the coin is also marked with radial lines, and the edge is reeded.

Intricate and flawless, the Silver Maple Leaf from Royal Canadian Mint is a solid acquisition for investor and collector alike.