The Gold Maple Leaf is the official gold bullion coin of Canada and was introduced in 1979. At the time, the South African Krugerrand was the only other gold bullion coin available to the general public, but it was rare due to the economic sanctions imposed on South Africa at the time. Thus the Maple Leaf was able to able to get a corner on the North American market. It is one of the purest regular issue gold coins in the world as it contains virtually no base metals. All of the gold in the Maple Leaf is mined in Canada and while they are some of the purest coins on earth, the softness of the gold means that they show handling marks much more easily than many others.

The obverse features a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II while the reverse features a finely crafted maple leaf.