The World's Purest Gold Coins
In 1998, Canada introduced a new gold coin with a face value of $350. It is produced in gold which is 99.999% pure making it the world's purest gold coin. Previously, the purest gold coins were produced in 99.99% pure gold, which although of very high purity, is not as high as 99.999%. Although we at Chard's think this a somewhat of a gimmick, there are those who appreciate fine things, including fine gold.

Fineness of Gold
The fineness of gold for jewellery is traditionally measured in carats, but in recent years, it has also been measured as a decimal fraction of 1, 1 representing absolutely pure. It is in practice almost impossible to produce most substances with absolute purity. Historically gold bars used to be, and still are, acceptable at .995 pure (99.5%), and also .999 (99.9%), although now that most gold is refined electrolytically, it is common to find gold refined to .9999 (99.99%). This allows only 1 part in 10,000 of impurity, a very high standard indeed. It is unusual to find gold refined to a purity greater than .9999, but the Royal Canadian Mint obviously decided that this extra refinement would create extra interest in their coins. We should add that extremely pure materials can also be valuable in scientific or industrial situations, in which case it would probably cost much more to buy than our selling price for these coins.

Half Price - Save £475 Per Coin!
One of our UK "competitors" charges £950 each for these coins. We think this is very expensive, but occasionally we can offer "secondhand" specimens at considerable savings as usual. This same competitor informs us that the issue limit for 2001 is 2,000 pieces, whereas the correct figure is actually 2,001 pieces, only a small discrepancy, but demonstrating their usual standard of accuracy and attention to detail nevertheless.

Specifications

Denomination	Diameter	Weight	Alloy	Gold Content
350 Dollars	34	38.0500	.99999	1.2233

Key to Table
Denomination = Face Value in Canadian Dollars
Diameter = Diameter in millimetres
Weight = Gross weight in grams.
Gold Content = Gold content in Troy Ounces.

Changing Designs
The designs celebrate Canada's provincial flowers. Each year the design on these coins changes, so we list the design theme in the following specification table:-

Half Price Bargains
The "official UK distributor" mentioned above sells these coins new at £950, but does allow you to pay in 10 "easy" payments of £95 each. We think our pricing structure is far kinder to our customers, at exactly half the original price, and what's more we let you pay in one easy instalment of only £475!

Prices & Availability

Date	Description	Representing	Mintage	Availability	Price £	Price US$
1998	4 Flowers	Canadian Coat of Arms & Founding Nations	1,998	Ask	£495	$950
1999	Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium Acaule)	Prince Edward Island	1,999	Ask	£475	$899
2000	Pacific Dogwood (Cornus Nuttallii)	British Columbia	2,000	Ask	£475	$899
2001	Mayflower (Epigaea Repens)	Nova Scotia	2,001	Ask	£475	$899
2002	Wild Rose	Alberta	2,002	Ask	£475	$899
2003	White Trillium	Ontario	2,003	Wanted	£	$
2004	Fireweed	Yukon	2,004	Wanted	£	$
2005	Western Red Lily	Saskatchewan	2,005	Ask	£	$
2006	Blue Flag (Iris Versicolour (Versicolor))	Quebec	2,006	Wanted	£	$
2007	Purple Violet	New Brunswick	1,400?	Wanted	£	$
2008	Saxifrage	Nunavut	1,400	Wanted	£	$

Notes on Table
Ask = If availability is shown as "Ask", this indicates that we had none in stock at the last update of this page. We may be able to obtain one or place your name on a waiting list.

Further Descriptions
For those interested in further descriptions of the above coins, we have given each date its own page:-

• 1998 Four Flowers

• 1999 Lady's Slipper

• 2000 Pacific Dogwood

• 2001 Mayflower

• 2002 Wild Rose

New! - 2007 99999 Gold Maples

Please check our Standard Terms for Bullion Coins.
You may wish to use our Order Form UK
Order Form USA.

Postage & Packing
UK Registered Post (Special Delivery) £9 per order
EU Insured Post £10 per order
USA Airmail $10, Insured Shipping $20
Canada Airmail $15, Insured Shipping $20