Canadian Maple Leaf Silver Coin

Recently I developed an interest in collecting silver coins as well, not just for the numismatic value, also for its intrinsic silver value. The price of Silver has proved to be stable and gradually increasing throughout the years, and is still relatively cheap compared to gold. Therefore I feel that it is a good time to buy some before the prices go up. I have recently ordered a batch of 2010 Canadian Maple Leaf Silver Coins and would like to share it with everyone. The actual coin looks much nicer in photos as it is one of the shiniest silver coins I have owned. If anyone is interested in purchasing it as well, I still have a couple of spares I will let go near my cost.

The Canadian Silver Maple Leaf is a silver bullion coin issued annually by the government of Canada. The coin has been minted by the Royal Canadian Mint (RMC) since 1988.

The face value of the 1 oz coin is 5 Canadian dollars, the highest among international silver bullion coins.. The purity of the coin is 99.99% silver, also the highest among other bullion issues which have a 99.90% standard.

The coin generally always features a maple leaf and generally consists of 1 troy ounce of silver.

The one universal element in all silver maple leaf coins is the phrase "Fine Silver 1 oz Argent Pur" along the bottom of the obverse of the coin.

(Stock photo)

(my coin, with my lousy camera)

(my coin with my lousy camera, scratches are on the plastic covering not on the coin)

Silver Tiger Coins

Chinese zodiac has been a big influence on many silver mints across the world, where they mint silver coins with Chinese zodiac animals every year. Some mints may sell these coins as purely an investment option where it is only priced slightly higher above silver spot price, but some of the mints sell the coins way above the silver price. Coins purchased from the Singapore mint have retail prices way higher than its face value and silver content. But of course, we have to factor in the high overhead costs they might have for producing the coins as well.

I have collected 2 of Singapore's Tiger Coins, 1986 and 1998, and a 2010 Australian Tiger coin, which is actually my Chinese zodiac.

1st Series of Singapore 10 Dollar Coins

After independence, Singapore had minted its first 10 dollar silver coin in 1972 - 1974 (Eagle), 1975 - 1977 (Ship), 1977 (Asean), 1978 - 1980 Satellite). These coins comes in 2 versions, the uncirculated coins in pouches and proof coins in boxes. Uncirculated coins are minted with a larger quantity, while the proof coins supply is much lesser. The issue price for proof coins are also significantly higher as it comes encapsulated, has a shinier and nicer finishing, and of course a certificate of authenticity by the Singapore Mint.

Silver was initially used as a component for all coins, for both uncirculated coins and proof coins. However, it was changed in 1980 where the satellite uncirculated coin was minted in Copper-Nickel. So do take note when you purchase an uncirculated satellite coin minted in 1980, please do not take the silver content into consideration as there is none.

The below picture shows a coin from each series, namely the ship, eagle and satellite. You can see that the finishing of the ship and satellite coins are more mirror like and shinier than the finishing of the eagle coins as these coins are proof coins. The eagle coin is an uncirculated coin. However, the proof coins does not appear as silvery as the eagle coin, this is due to toning, which is the ageing of the coin, and this does not affect its value.