First silver Maple Leaf purchase

cinque1543

I recently made my first purchase of silver Maple Leafs, a tube of 25 coins, all dated 2025, from a major online dealer in the USA. The dealer said they acquire the coins directly from the Royal Canadian Mint, sealed, which they then sell unopened to customers like me.

The coins arrived yesterday in an opaque tube with rounded corners and a yellow cap. I checked the sites of other dealers, and they show the same tube, so that seems ok. The tube I received, however, is "sealed" with what looks to me as a short piece of ordinary tape across the yellow cap. There is no official marking of any kind on the exterior of the tube or cap.

I assume it's ok to remove the tape and confirm that the coins inside are the ones that I expected, and then put on a new piece of tape. Is there any reason not to do this?

johnny9434

For more input first i might leave the piece of tape alone for now, just to be safe 🙏

derryb

Mint applied tape/sticker is likely designed to "self destruct" when removed. Otherwise it is unreliable. Similar tape/stickers are used extensively in maintaining nuclear cleanliness on certified systems are temporarily opened/breached. Such tape cannot be removed without damaging it. When I worked for DoD I would apply them to certify cleanliness when a system (pipe joint) was closed/reassembled. Tape was to not be disturbed unless a certifying inspector was present to ensure system cleanliness was maintained before reapplying a new sticker tape. Discovery of a damaged sticker required flushing and recertifying the system. A costly procedure for submarine reactor systems.

Edited to add: further discussion and pics reveal you have commercially available fiberglass reinforced tape on your tubes. No added value. Open and enjoy your coins. Reapply a tape when shipping the coins so that they remain in the tube.

cinque1543

Here are photos (not great quality) of the tube and tape. The "25" that you see on the cap was on the tube when I received it. Not sure who wrote it.

What I think is a maple leaf (the icon of the Canadian Royal Mint?) is molded into the yellow cap.

blitzdude

There is the mint tape (brown) and there is post mint shipping tape as seen on the top left tube (over the mint tape). I believe they only started using the mint tape in 2024. I've bought and sold a lot of gutter metal and never once was I ever offered more for a "sealed" coin / roll / box. Do with it whatever gives you piece of mind. Personally, I don't think it matters either way. RGDS!

Greenstang

I have seen many of these rolls for sale with no tape. People open them to check the contents.
Your buying the silver Maple Leaf bullion pieces, the tape has no value either way. Open it if
you want to check the contents then put them back in the tube.

derryb

Agree with blitz. Your original post led me to believe you got what he pictured and my earlier comments addressed that tape. You have since posted a pic that shows the tube sealed with commercially available fiberglass reinforced tape and there is no way to know who applied it. I apply such tape to all mint tubes I ship to keep them from popping open during shipment. A buyer will place no added value on this tape. It's purpose is to keep the tubes from popping open during shipment.

cinque1543

Thanks for your comments. The coins I ordered were advertised as "mint sealed", and it's hard for me to believe that a mint employee wrote "25" on the cap. Maybe there's no issue at all with the coins, but it kind of feels like the vendor counted out some coins, popped them into a tube, wrote "25" on the cap, and applied some packaging tape. So the product doesn't seem "mint sealed" to me, but I guess you are all telling me that I am overreacting, which might be the case!

PerryHall

If the tubes weren't sealed by the mint, they may have been searched for the high grade coins by the company who packaged them.

tincup

Does not sound like or look like the tube was sealed by the Canadian Mint. Does it really matter? Depends on what you planned for the coins. You can certainly contact the company you purchased them from and hear what they say in regards on whether that is how they receive them from the MInt... but I doubt you have much recourse. If all you really wanted was bullion... you got bullion. Perhaps try another company next time.

derryb

@PerryHall said:
If the tubes weren't sealed by the mint, they may have been searched for the high grade coins by the company who packaged them.

and then sold them to you. I believe a lot of the large retailers do this.

OP's seller likely meant the box they removed the tubes from was mint sealed. In that case they did not mislead. Provenance was lost the minute they cut the strap on the box.

cinque1543

@tincup said:
Perhaps try another company next time.

I think this is good advice. If I purchase another tube some day, perhaps I'll try a coin show where I can see the product before buying.