The Triple Maple is back for a second year, and the Royal Canadian Mint has given its young maple leaf series a distinctly contemporary twist. All three coins in the 2026 lineup, a 1 oz fine silver coin, a 5 oz fine silver coin, and a 1 oz pure gold coin, now carry black rhodium plating, trading last year’s classic presentation for maximum contrast between leaf and field.
Introduced in 2025, the Triple Maple presents a trio of sugar maple leaves rendered in a realistic art style, a deliberate step away from the stylized single leaf collectors know from Canada’s bullion coinage. With mintages of 7,000, 1,550 and 550 respectively, the 2026 editions position the series firmly as limited collector fare.
Stan Witten’s Maple Leaf Design, Born in the Engraver’s Backyard
The reverse design belongs to retired Senior Engraver Stan Witten, who created, photographed, sketched and then sculpted the maple leaf arrangement himself. The inspiration was literal: fallen leaves gathered from the ground in Witten’s own backyard in the fall of 2023, arranged into the composition seen on the coin. Witten, who moved to Ottawa and planted maples of his own, says the leaves “have inspired me throughout my life and career.”
The result reflects a 35 year engraving career distilled into a single motif. Three overlapping sugar maple (Acer saccharum) leaves tilt gently to the right to convey movement, as though they have just settled on the ground. Witten sculpted each leaf as a subtle 3D form, with intricate vein patterns, gentle valleys and concave areas that shift under the light, and a clockwise circular flow that echoes the round canvas of the coin itself. The obverse of all three coins carries Steven Rosati’s effigy of His Majesty King Charles III.
The 2026 Lineup: Three Coins, Two Ways to Wear Black
What makes the 2026 treatment interesting is that the black rhodium is not applied the same way across the series. On the 1 oz coins, the plating fills the field, setting matte silver or warm gold leaves against a muted black background. On the 5 oz silver coin, the Mint inverts the formula: the leaves themselves are plated in black and set as an accent against a brilliant, mirrorlike proof field. Same design, same plating, two very different coins in hand.
The 1 oz fine silver coin is the accessible entry point. Struck in 99.99% pure silver at 31.39 grams and 38 mm with a matte proof finish and a $20 face value, it carries the largest mintage of the series at 7,000 pieces and retails for $269.95 CAD.
The 5 oz fine silver coin is the flagship, and the only proof finish coin in the trio. At 157.6 grams and a generous 65.25 mm diameter, it is the largest Triple Maple issued to date, carrying a $50 face value and a mintage of 1,550 at $1,189.95 CAD. The oversized canvas gives Witten’s vein work and layered leaf shapes their fullest expression, with the black leaves playing against the reflective field.
The 1 oz pure gold coin sits at the top of the range. Struck in 99.99% pure gold at 31.16 grams and 30 mm with a matte proof finish and a $200 face value, it is limited to just 550 pieces worldwide at $8,619.95 CAD, and ships in a black lacquered wood case rather than the clamshell used for the silver editions.
| 1 oz Fine Silver | 5 oz Fine Silver | 1 oz Pure Gold | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Composition | 99.99% silver, black rhodium plating | 99.99% silver, black rhodium plating | 99.99% gold, black rhodium plating |
| Weight | 31.39 g | 157.6 g | 31.16 g |
| Diameter | 38 mm | 65.25 mm | 30 mm |
| Face value | $20 | $50 | $200 |
| Finish | Matte proof | Proof | Matte proof |
| Mintage | 7,000 | 1,550 | 550 |
| Price | $269.95 CAD | $1,189.95 CAD | $8,619.95 CAD |
All three coins feature serrated edges, serialized certificates, and Royal Canadian Mint branded black presentation packaging, and all three are exempt from GST/HST. They are available directly from the Mint at mint.ca, with shipping limited to Canada and the United States.
Why the Triple Maple Series Is Worth Watching
Second releases are where new series either settle into a formula or start experimenting, and the Triple Maple has clearly chosen the latter. The sugar maple is arguably the most famous maple tree in Canada, the preferred species for syrup production and abundant across the country’s eastern forests, which gives the series a genuinely national subject beyond the familiar bullion emblem. Pairing that subject with black rhodium, a finish more often associated with boutique world mint issues, signals that the Mint sees the Triple Maple as a canvas for contemporary reinterpretation rather than a static annual repeat. For collectors who passed on the 2025 debut, the 2026 editions make a persuasive case that this series is worth watching, and with 550 gold and 1,550 five ounce pieces on offer, not worth watching for too long.
