The Royal Canadian Mint began producing the palladium Maple Leaf in 2005 and has since struck these coins in other years such as 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009.  Although other world mints had produced commemorative coins in palladium, the Maple Leaf is the first legal tender bullion coin. Each coin is minted from .9995 pure palladium and carries a face value of $50 Canadian. The obverse features Queen Elizabeth II at 79 years old. On the reverse you’ll find the iconic Maple Leaf – the national symbol of Canada. The US Mint issued a competing palladium coin in 2017 which was extremely popular among US palladium investors.

Palladium bullion is one of the least common traded precious metals. It is usually a by product of either nickel or platinum mining with the bulk of the world’s supply coming from Russia as a by product of nickel mining. The palladium price is lower than that of the price of gold (although it has in the past had a higher price). Canadian Palladium coins are one of the only well known sovereign mint bullion coins that is produced. Palladium prices tend to be more volatile than gold prices and as such, the spread between the buy and sell price of any palladium bar or coin, including the Palladium Maple Leaf Canadian Coin, is wider than that of gold bullion.