The Canadian Maple Leaf Platinum Bullion Coin made its first appearance from the Royal Canadian Mint in 1988. The coin is struck from 99.95% pure platinum.

These coins debuted the same year as the Silver Maple Leaf which also served as an expansion to the popular maple leaf bullion program. The Royal Canadian Mint had been producing the first strike in the series, the Gold Maple Leaf since 1979 and it had proved to be a hit among collectors from around the world.

The Platinum Maple Leafs were issued annually in several different sizes until 1999 when the platinum market sky-rocketed and the Royal Canadian Mint stopped production. They made a brief re-appearance in 2002 but did not return again until 2009 at which time they were only struck in the one ounce size.

Perhaps one of the biggest reasons for the popularity of the maple leaf program is the purity of the strikes. The Gold Maple Leafs feature 99.99% pure gold, the Silver Maple Leafs are struck from 99.99% pure silver and these Platinum Maple Leafs are composed of 99.95% pure platinum.

In addition, the coins weight and purity are guaranteed by the Government of Canada giving investors a feeling of confidence when purchasing the strikes. The government also backs each coin as legal tender meaning if the precious metal market were to bottom, the strikes would always be worth their face value.

As legal tender coins of Canada, the obverse of each contains a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II of England. Surrounding her portrait are the inscriptions of ELIZABETH II, the face value and the year of minting.

The reverse shows the national symbol of Canada, a maple leaf. Also shown are the inscriptions of CANADA, 9995 FINE PLATINUM and the size of the strike along with PLATINE PUR.