In this article 11 sections
- What the Gold Maple Leaf is
- Official specifications
- A rarer, purer version: the 99.999% $200 coin
- Weight and size options
- Bullion DNA: the Mint’s anti-counterfeiting technology
- GST/HST treatment
- Premiums over spot: coins versus bars
- RRSPs and TFSAs: what the coin-specific rule says
- Where Canadians can buy the Gold Maple Leaf
- Frequently asked questions
- Sources
Last reviewed: 9 November 2026. Sources are linked in the text.
The Gold Maple Leaf (GML) is the Royal Canadian Mint’s flagship gold bullion coin: legal tender in Canada, struck in 99.99% pure gold, produced every year since 1979. For a Canadian buyer comparing coins, bars and other ways of holding gold, it is usually the first coin that comes up, so it is worth understanding the coin itself before looking at where to buy it.
This guide covers the coin’s official specifications, its security features, how it is taxed, and where it fits next to other ways of buying gold in Canada. It is educational only: it does not tell you to buy the coin, and it does not recommend one dealer over another.
What the Gold Maple Leaf is
The Gold Maple Leaf is a bullion coin produced by the Royal Canadian Mint, struck in fine gold with a single maple leaf design on the reverse and the reigning monarch on the obverse. The Mint’s own product page for the coin states that more than 25 million troy ounces have been sold since the coin was introduced in 1979, and describes the Maple Leaf as the first bullion coin to reach a purity standard of 99.99% (Royal Canadian Mint, 2026 Gold Maple Leaf product page, checked 9 November 2026).
According to Wikipedia, a secondary source, the coin launched in 1979 at a purity of .999 (99.9%), raised to .9999 (99.99%) starting in November 1982. The 1982 purity increase is confirmed on the Mint’s own side too: its investor guide states “in 1982, we introduced the world’s first 99.99% pure gold bullion coin” (Wikipedia, “Canadian Gold Maple Leaf”, checked 9 November 2026; Royal Canadian Mint, “Buying Precious Metals” guide, dated internally 12 May 2025). The 1979 launch date and original .999 fineness rest on Wikipedia alone, so they are flagged as background rather than a current official specification.
Like all Canadian bullion coins, the Gold Maple Leaf is legal tender, but its face value sits well below its market value: the 1 oz coin carries a $50 face value, while its market worth tracks the gold price. This is a feature of bullion coinage generally, not something specific to the Maple Leaf.
Official specifications
The standard, currently sold Gold Maple Leaf is 99.99% pure gold, with the following specifications for the 1 oz coin, taken from the Mint’s own current product page:
| Specification | 1 oz Gold Maple Leaf |
|---|---|
| Composition | 99.99% pure gold |
| Weight | 31.11 g |
| Diameter | 30 mm |
| Face value | $50 CAD |
| Edge | Serrated |
| Finish | Radial lines |
Source: Royal Canadian Mint, 2026 Gold Maple Leaf, 1 oz, 99.99% pure (bullion), checked 9 November 2026.
A rarer, purer version: the 99.999% $200 coin
Alongside the standard 99.99% bullion coin, the Mint periodically issues a 99.999% (“five nines”) version, sold as “Our Purest Maple Leaf” with a $200 CAD face value rather than $50. Same 1 oz weight and 30 mm diameter as the standard coin, but with interrupted serrations on the edge and a reverse proof finish. The 2025 issue had a mintage of 800 coins; the 2026 issue, 1,500 (Royal Canadian Mint, 2025 Our Purest Maple Leaf and 2026 Our Purest Maple Leaf, both checked 9 November 2026).
This is a “Premium Bullion” special release, not the coin most buyers encounter. At the time of this review, both the 2025 and 2026 versions showed as archived and out of stock on the Mint’s own site, so it was not available to buy new directly from the Mint. Check current availability before relying on it.
Weight and size options
The standard 99.99% Gold Maple Leaf is sold new in a full ounce and in four fractional sizes. These appear as size options on the Mint’s own current product page for the 1 oz coin, with the following specifications:
| Size | Weight | Diameter | Face value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 oz | 31.11 g | 30 mm | $50 CAD |
| 1/2 oz | 15.55 g | 25 mm | $20 CAD |
| 1/4 oz | 7.77 g | 20 mm | $10 CAD |
| 1/10 oz | 3.11 g | 16 mm | $5 CAD |
| 1/20 oz | 1.55 g | 14.1 mm | $1 CAD |
Source: Royal Canadian Mint, 2026 Gold Maple Leaf product page, checked 9 November 2026.
A 1 gram size also exists, but currently only inside a product called the Maplegram25: a sheet of 25 individually detachable 1 gram, 99.99% pure gold coins, each legal tender with its own 50-cent face value, each 8 mm across, serial-numbered on the blister pack. At the time of this review, no standalone single 1-gram Maple Leaf coin was found for sale on the Mint’s site, only the 25-coin sheet (Royal Canadian Mint, 2026 Maplegram25, checked 9 November 2026).
Older and commemorative Maple Leaf products are not covered here. If you hold or are considering an older coin, check its year and packaging against the Mint’s current listings rather than assuming it matches the current lineup.
Bullion DNA: the Mint’s anti-counterfeiting technology
Every Gold Maple Leaf dated 2014 or later carries three layered security features, which the Mint calls Bullion DNA:
- Radial lines machined across the coin’s surface to within microns, creating a light-diffracting pattern specific to that coin.
- A micro-engraved security mark, a textured maple leaf visible only under magnification, with the last two digits of the year of issue at its centre.
- Bullion DNA proper, a Digital Non-Destructive Activation process: every die used to strike the coins is photographed and registered in the Mint’s secure database, so an authorized dealer can later match a coin’s security mark against that database.
Bullion DNA was developed jointly by the Royal Canadian Mint and EDGYN SAS and uses the patented Signoptic technology. Authentication at a registered Bullion DNA dealer is a short process: the dealer inserts the coin into a reader device, takes a photo, and the server checks the image against the registered database. The technology covers Gold Maple Leaf coins dated 2014 and later, and Silver Maple Leaf coins dated 2015 and later (Royal Canadian Mint, Bullion DNA, checked 9 November 2026).
The Mint’s own investor guide adds that counterfeit bullion is rare in Canada, and suggests checking a coin’s security features and packaging for tampering as basic precautions alongside Bullion DNA authentication (Royal Canadian Mint, “Buying Precious Metals” guide, checked 9 November 2026).
GST/HST treatment
Under the Excise Tax Act, a “precious metal” is a bar, ingot, coin or wafer composed of gold, silver or platinum refined to a purity of at least 99.5% for gold and platinum, or 99.9% for silver. For a coin specifically, it must also have been issued by a government authority and be usable as currency. A supply of a precious metal meeting that definition is treated as a supply of a financial service, and that supply is generally exempt from GST/HST (Canada Revenue Agency, GST/HST Memorandum 17-1, “Definition of Financial Instrument”, July 2026 version, paragraphs 29 to 31, checked 9 November 2026).
At 99.99% purity, issued by the Government of Canada and usable as legal tender, the Gold Maple Leaf meets both the purity and issuance tests in that definition. Consistent with this, the Mint’s own product page for the 99.999% version of the coin states directly that it carries “no GST/HST” (Royal Canadian Mint, 2025 Our Purest Maple Leaf product page, checked 9 November 2026).
This is a tax rule about the metal, not a recommendation to buy it. Confirm directly with the CRA or a tax professional for a specific purchase.
Premiums over spot: coins versus bars
The spot price is the quoted market value of one troy ounce of gold. Dealers do not sell at spot. The Mint’s own investor guide explains why: “there are costs involved in the manufacturing, transportation and delivery of bullion, so dealers will typically charge a premium on top of the spot price to cover those costs.” The same guide notes that smaller bars and coins carry higher premiums than larger ones, because production costs are higher relative to the amount of metal they contain (Royal Canadian Mint, “Buying Precious Metals” guide, checked 9 November 2026).
Applied to the Maple Leaf, the same guide states that coins are typically more affordable than bars because they weigh less, “though their smaller size means they have higher premiums than bars,” and that fractional coins such as the 1/2, 1/4, 1/10 and 1/20 oz Maple Leaf carry a higher premium than buying the full ounce. In short: a 1 oz coin generally carries a smaller premium than its fractional counterparts, and a generic bar of the same weight generally carries a smaller premium than a coin, because a coin’s design, strike quality and security features cost more to produce than a plain bar.
This guide does not state a current premium in Canadian dollars, since premiums move with market conditions and differ by dealer. For the coin’s current melt value, use this site’s gold calculator tool, which works out melt value from the live gold price, weight and purity. A dealer’s price above that melt value reflects the premium described here.
RRSPs and TFSAs: what the coin-specific rule says
Registered plans such as RRSPs and TFSAs can hold bullion coins, but only ones that pass a specific test in the Income Tax Regulations. For a gold legal tender bullion coin, section 4900(1)(t) requires: a minimum fineness of 995 parts per 1000 (99.5%); production by the Royal Canadian Mint; a fair market value at the time of purchase not exceeding 110% of the value of its gold content; and acquisition directly from the Mint or from a “specified corporation,” meaning a bank, trust company, credit union, insurance corporation or registered securities dealer regulated by a body such as the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (Income Tax Regulations, section 4900, checked 9 November 2026).
The Gold Maple Leaf is Mint-issued and, at 99.99% purity, comfortably exceeds the 99.5% fineness test, satisfying two of the four conditions. Whether a specific purchase satisfies the other two, the price-versus-metal-value test and who it was bought from, depends on that purchase, and it is your plan’s trustee or administrator who makes the final call on whether it is accepted into a particular RRSP or TFSA. This guide does not declare the coin “RRSP-eligible” or “TFSA-eligible” outright; confirm with your plan administrator first.
Where Canadians can buy the Gold Maple Leaf
The coin is sold through several channels in Canada:
- The Royal Canadian Mint’s own online store, selling current-year coins directly and showing which products are in stock or archived.
- Banks offering investment or precious-metals services; the Mint’s investor guide suggests contacting your bank if it offers this.
- Bullion dealers, including dealers registered in the Mint’s Bullion DNA program, who have the equipment to authenticate a coin’s security mark in person.
Prices differ between these channels, and between dealers, because each sets its own premium over spot. For help comparing dealers, see this site’s existing guide to where to buy gold in Canada, and use the gold calculator tool to check a coin’s melt value before comparing it against a dealer’s asking price. Gold in Canada may earn a commission on some dealer links elsewhere on this site. This guide itself does not rank or promote any one dealer, and nothing here is investment advice.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Gold Maple Leaf a good investment?
That depends on your own circumstances, goals and risk tolerance, and this guide does not answer it for you. What can be said factually: the coin is Mint-issued, 99.99% pure, legal tender in Canada, and generally exempt from GST/HST on resale under the rule described above. Those are facts about the coin, not a recommendation to buy it. If you are weighing gold against other assets, speak with a financial professional about your own plan.
How do I verify a Gold Maple Leaf is genuine?
Coins dated 2014 or later carry the Mint’s Bullion DNA features: machined radial lines, a micro-engraved maple leaf mark showing the last two digits of the year, and a registered die image in the Mint’s database. A dealer registered in the Bullion DNA program can check a coin against that database with a reader device. You can also check the coin’s packaging for signs of tampering and compare its weight and diameter against the Mint’s published specifications.
Should I buy the 1 oz coin or a fractional size?
According to the Mint’s own guide, fractional coins (1/2, 1/4, 1/10 and 1/20 oz) generally carry a higher premium over spot than the full 1 oz coin, because production costs do not scale down as fast as the metal content does. A fractional coin can still make sense if you want a smaller unit to sell off in parts, or a lower entry price, but expect to pay more per gram of gold than you would for a full ounce.
How is the Gold Maple Leaf taxed when I sell it?
Resale of a coin meeting the precious-metal definition above (99.5%+ purity, government-issued, usable as currency) is generally exempt from GST/HST. That is separate from income tax: any capital gain or loss on the sale is governed by the Income Tax Act and depends on your own situation. This guide does not cover personal income tax treatment in detail; confirm with the CRA or a tax professional.
Sources
All checked 9 November 2026 unless a document’s own internal date is shown.
- Royal Canadian Mint, 2026 Gold Maple Leaf Coin, 1 oz, 99.99% Pure (Bullion)
- Royal Canadian Mint, 2026 Maplegram25 (Bullion Gold Maple Leaf 25 x 1 g)
- Royal Canadian Mint, 2025 Our Purest Maple Leaf, 1 oz, 99.999% Pure (Premium Bullion)
- Royal Canadian Mint, 2026 Our Purest Maple Leaf, 1 oz, 99.999% Pure (Premium Bullion)
- Royal Canadian Mint, Bullion DNA
- Royal Canadian Mint, Maple Leaf Bullion Coins (catalogue)
- Royal Canadian Mint, “Buying Precious Metals” investor guide (PDF), dated internally 12 May 2025
- Canada Revenue Agency, GST/HST Memorandum 17-1, “Definition of Financial Instrument”, July 2026 version
- Income Tax Regulations (C.R.C., c. 945), section 4900
- Wikipedia, “Canadian Gold Maple Leaf” (secondary source, used for background history only)
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