Silver coin sell-out and new gold bullion coin launch

The Royal Canadian Mint has sold out of its second release of the six-coin Wild Canada Silver Maple Leaf coins.

Just 50,000 of the one troy ounce 99.99 per cent purity silver coins were made. They went on sale in February and there has been high demand from investors and collectors, with coins now selling for around £7 more than the spot silver price.

The sold-out coin replaces the usual mint mark with a roaring grizzly bear and is part of the Mint’s $5 Silver Maple Leaf collection which was first launched in 1988.

The Mint’s Wild Canada series runs for three years. The first coin was decorated with a roaring wolf, and the third, featuring a cougar, comes out in September. It will carry the 2017 date and the fourth, also dated 2017, will show a moose. The final two in the collection will feature an antelope and a wood bison, and will be dated 2018.

Meanwhile, over the border, the US Mint has announced it will be issuing Betty Ford First Spouse Gold Coins towards the end of the month. The run of the half troy ounce fine gold coins will be limited to 10,000 so they are likely to become a collectors’ item.

Mrs Ford was US First Lady from 1974-1977 and is known for her work to combat addiction, raising awareness of breast cancer and promoting the role of women. The coin represents this on the tails side with an inscription of a young woman climbing a staircase. The heads side shows a portrait of the former First Lady and the inscriptions Betty Ford, Liberty, In God We Trust, 38^th, the dates of her tenure and 2016.

It’s the latest in the Presidential and First Ladies coin series produced by the mint, which has already released coins celebrating Ronald Reagan and wife Nancy, and Richard Nixon and his wife Pat in 2016.