2016 S$5 Canada MS-70 Maple Leafs

John, that is a great question. Mostly, the RCM doesn't care what people have to say about it. They responded officially with, 'they are bullion coins and not meant for collecting. The rinsing agent does not affect the coin's purity'.

Yup, someone is buying them. I picked up a 2016 MS70 as well. There were 7 last week for sale, now there is only one left.

There is another seller who wants $429.99 for one. He has sold a few at that price as well.

I think this dealer gets them from MCM or Bullion Exchanges. Maybe NGC can work on a slab that is impervious to surface changes?

@JGG

oh I totally believe you. Furthermore, if someone wants to buy slabbed bullion coins, I cannot fault them nor am I going to tell them how to enjoy their hobby, I completely respect everyone's interests.

I am just saying, from my personal experience, from other hobbyists before me, who have larger collections of slabbed bullion coins.... the lesson is, slabbed bullion coins develop milk spots in time if not soon after purchase and the value of the purchase goes right now the toilet.

i remember one hobbyist who had a blog and bought a complete set of MS 70 canadian wildlife coins, remember the ones with the wolf, bear, and other animals, and he had NO milk spots, later on he goes to look at his entire collection and BAM, milk spots on his MS70s which are no longer worth what he paid... and he blogged about that.

I mean if one wants slabbed coins, again for it. I certainly hope that no one has to experience that set back but its going to be hard to avoid. If someone really wants a slabbed bullion coin, I say get one with milk spots advertised so that one doesn't have a big outlay of cash.

The RCM's official position on milk spots is that if you want perfect looking coins, you should be buying their "collectible" lines of coins rather than bullion. 1 oz bullion maples cost around $25/oz, while the collector issues can be anywhere from $80 to $200 for a one ounce coin.

The milk spots develop from inadequate rinsing of the blanks used to make the coins. Rinsing them sufficiently to prevent milkspots would be cost/time prohibitive on bullion maples. They are at maximum capacity already, they made approximately 32 million last year. This is comparable to all of the bullion US silver eagles made in 2015 at 47 million.

John is correct, take the time to do it right! Other mints Too me it is wasting a good design on a mediocre product. The RCM is always boasting how its the best. They should up hold that reputation, instead their bullion has a reputation world wide for milk spots. This is causing many collectors to stay away. I read on a number of bullion board and the spots are always raised, when talking about Canadian bullion. Lets face it the mint has gotten plain greedy.

The Sunshine mint creates the gold planchets for US mint probably most of the silver ones too rarely hear about milk issues. The RCM should send their rinse expert to do some fact finding tours and correct the simple problem or simply out source like the US mint. All the private bullion wafer or rounds producer with the lowest premiums do not have milk spot issues.

Wow never heard talk of US bullion with the dreaded spots, are they the eagles or something else. Usually the other countries are pretty smug about not being plagued with spots.