2013 Silver Canadian Maple Leafs

Thanks. As someone relatively new to all this, it's been a constant learning experience. With this particular situation, despite the disappointment with quality control of cosmetic appearance, the purity of content and global popularity of this product can't be denied. I guess the practical side of me kept the collector side of me in check-- hey, it's still pure silver! Now, I've been lucky with milk spots. I did NOT see any when going through all my tubes. I have read comments that milk spots can eventually turn up over time. BTW, do you guys think the RCM Yellow plastic lid coin tubes are acceptable for long term coin storage? (are they 100% PVC free?)

The Silver maples disappointment wasn't enough to sway me away from the 2013 Silver Bison coins. The samples I looked closely at all look consistently pristine on the bison side. I was actually impressed. The Queen side face area looks a bit better on the Bison coin also. There's still slight imperfections, however, not as bad as on my Maples.

I could go on about the other 2013 mint issued bullion grade coins I got, but, since this is a Maples thread, I'll leave it at that. Is there a thread discussing cosmetic quality of mint issued silver bullion coins?
(for the collector side of me ;) )

I prefer the wildlife coins over the Maples. They don't cost much more than the Maples and they tend to appreciate in value over time. I went through one tube of polar bears and found only 2 that had scratches or spots. The rest are near perfect. It really is a beautiful coin and well worth the premium (compared to some Mint products). If a whole tube of bears or maples are a mess, then I imagine that tube was already cherry-picked by another buyer and sent back to the dealer for trade/cash. Might be tempting for a dealer to unload those knock-offs hoping the customer will accept them because of the lower spot price.

I noticed that the Bison & Antelope coins have little or no milk spots in comparison to the cougar, moose, etc. so am wondering if the Mint has been improving the series in that area. The bison is nice coin, but a bit busy. The antelope is simpler, but looks more like a deer to me. Still, make really nice sets to collect and to gift.

The bonus of the Maples & wildlife series is that they are .9999 silver, which from what I understand is a better quality than .999 silver, so don't mind the milk spots too much in that regard. Anyone try to remove them? There is a video on Youtube showing various methods how that can done. Might not be a bad idea to experiment with some loser coins just to see how successful that could be... might lose a bit of silver/weight in the process or risk tiny scratches....

So far ALL my purchases have been from APMEX (Oklahoma) for current 2013 mint issued product. I chose 2013 because the current year product tends to be the cheapest with them.

One thing I noticed is all my "Mint Direct" certified Maples are on the beefy side of 1 troy oz. Each coin tends to range in the 31.3g to 31.48g range. That's one thing I like about these coins.. that slight silver bonus.

I have seen YouTube videos of a dual layer Jewelry cloth used to polish out Milk Spot on CSML coin. I would avoid doing this as I have seen how those types of cloths can put faint hairline scratch marks on shiny coins that are visible when tilting the coin a certain way.

If I ever see milk spots develop on my Maples, I am leaving them be. I guess my reasoning would be there's no point trying to buff out history. What you see is the real deal... warts and all. These flaws are the proof that minting processes were not perfect at the time.

Really like the Bison coins. Look consistently more pristine with no milk spots. Making the snow ground matte instead of shiny for contrast sake might have helped visually. Regardless, I really do like this coin and am considering moving each into an air tite protector to keep them looking shiny pristine.

I don't have the Antelope yet. APMEX cranked up the premiums recently. Hoping they go on sale some time.