Maple Leaf 1 oz or 50 Pesos: which is the better buy today?
Maple Leaf 1 oz holds 31.10 g of fine gold and 50 Pesos 37.50 g — close enough to be the same purchase in metal, and far enough apart in everything else not to be the same coin to own.
| coin | Maple Leaf 1 oz | 50 Pesos |
|---|---|---|
| fine gold | 31.10 g | 37.50 g |
| gross weight | 31.10 g | 41.67 g |
| purity | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt | 900 ‰ · 21.6 kt |
| diameter | 30 mm | 37 mm |
| thickness | 2.87 mm | 2.69 mm |
| face value | 50 dollars | 50 pesos |
| struck | Canada · since 1979 | Mexico · 1921–1947 |
The prices come from the feed, and the feed has not answered yet.
Maple Leaf 1 oz — Pure gold, no alloy: the softest of the one-ounce coins and the one that shows a fingerprint, so it travels in its capsule.
50 Pesos — The Centenario: 37.5 g of fine gold, more than an ounce, struck for the centenary of independence and restruck ever since with the 1947 date.
50 Pesos is 900 ‰ · 21.6 kt, so it weighs 41.67 g for its 37.50 g of gold; Maple Leaf 1 oz is 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt, 31.10 g on the scale. Neither holds more gold for the difference: the alloy is hardness, which is why 50 Pesos can be handled and Maple Leaf 1 oz travels in a capsule.
50 Pesos was money before it was an investment — struck from 1921 to 1947 — and is bought today as a bullion coin on the strength of being recognised everywhere; Maple Leaf 1 oz has been struck for investors since 1979, and its price is the metal plus the mint’s and the dealer’s margin, nothing else.
So the comparison is the premium. Whichever of the two a dealer asks less for above its metal is the cheaper gold that day — and that changes shop by shop and day by day, which is what the numbers above are for.