Canadian Gold Maple Leaf

Here is the purist of the minted gold coins - with a rating of 99.99% purity. The Maple Leaf was introduced by Canada as a testament to their minting prowess.

It's not easy minting pure gold, and in fact, dealers have had a few complaints over the quality of some of the maple leafs. They tend to mark easily. However, this coin is still coveted in investment circles.

Denominations include

1/20th oz - face value $1
1/10th oz - face value $5
1/4 oz - face value $10
1/2 oz - face value $20
1 oz - face value $50

Just as all of the American Eagles are produced from US mined gold, so to is the Maple Leaf mined from Canadian gold.

The maple Leaf made it's first appearance in 1979 as a response to the Kruggerand, which were hard to come by during the apartheid era.

The Royal Canadian Mint has struck more than gold, they also have approx 500 sets of Platinum Maple Leafs in circulation.

Gold bullion is available in many forms - the truth is the term bullion simply defines the mass value of the precious metal - not the face value. For example a cold coin with face value of $5 dollars is considered bullion because it's actually worth much more than $5 dollars.

Bullion also refers to bulk form precious metals. Buying gold bars, coins, and ingots would usually fall under the definition of a bullion investment.

The purity of precious metals like gold may vary, an example would be the Gold Maple Leaf coin with a rating of 99.9% purity opposed to the American eagle at 91.67%.

The lower gold content in the eagle was created for a reason. This coin has additional elements of copper and silver with the purpose to strengthen the coin.

Pure gold is a malleable, very soft metal, prone to wear. In fact gold leaf is a result of the hammering of gold and can be feather light and paper thin.

Gold Bars - All Sizes

Gold Bars are available in many sizes and weights. The standard weight ranges from one Troy* ounce on upwards of 400 Troy ozs. In general, when buying gold bars, you are getting the most gold for your money.

Gold bars are usually acquired through accredited precious metals dealers, a few commercial banks, and various brokers. Look for the Hallmark logo that is a benchmark for tested, refined gold. These stamped bars are widely recognized and fairly easy to buy and sell.

Where to store your gold?

This may depend on how much gold you own. Some investors prefer to take possession of the gold and store it in a safe locally. Larger quantities of gold can be stored in a facility like the bullion vault.

Now, I wouldn't expect your bank to allow you to store your gold in a safe deposit box. Most banks are not allowing gold reserves in their vaults due to government demands on disclosure.

Courtesy Wikipedia

* Troy Ounce - (ozt) is 480 grains, somewhat heavier than an avoirdupois ounce (437.5 grains).

A grain is 64.79891 mg; hence one troy ounce is 31.1034768 g, about 10 percent more than the avoirdupois ounce, which is 28.349523125 g.

The troy ounce is traditionally used over the avoirdupois ounce in the pricing of precious metals, gold, platinum, and silver.

The grain, which is identical in both the troy and avoirdupois systems, is used to measure arrow and arrowhead weights in archery and bullets and powder weights in ballistics.

The grain is also common to the apothecaries' system and was long used in medicine, but has been largely replaced by milligrams.