Call of the Wild Gold

Royal Canadian Mint Call of the Wild Gold Coins

The Call of the Wild is a seven-coin gold bullion series from the Royal Canadian Mint, issued annually from 2014 to 2020. Each coin features a different Canadian predatory animal depicted mid-vocalisation, and every coin is struck in 99.999% pure gold (five nines). This is the highest commercially available gold purity, and the Call of the Wild is the only major bullion series to use it consistently across a multi-year programme.

Canadian artist Pierre Leduc designed all seven reverses, each showing the animal at its most powerful and vocal: the 2014 Howling Wolf, 2015 Growling Cougar, 2016 Roaring Grizzly, 2017 Crowned Elk, 2018 Shrieking Golden Eagle, 2019 Majestic Moose, and 2020 Bobcat. The designs are deliberately aggressive and dynamic rather than serene wildlife portraits. Each coin carries a CAD $200 face value, the highest ever assigned to a 1 oz gold bullion coin by any sovereign mint worldwide. For comparison, the Gold Eagle carries USD $50, the Gold Maple Leaf carries CAD $50, and the Britannia carries GBP 100.

The series was originally planned as a three-coin set (2014-2016) but was extended to seven years due to strong collector demand. It concluded with the 2020 Bobcat. No continuation has been announced, making it a finite, complete seven-coin set. Complete sets command significant premiums on the secondary market.

Call of the Wild Denominations and Specifications

The 1/10 oz denomination was produced in 2015 and 2016 only, using the Howling Wolf and Growling Cougar designs respectively, with a mintage of 10,000 per year. The primary product is the 1 oz gold coin.

Series by Year

Brilliant Uncirculated (BU) 1 oz versions were struck according to demand; final mintage numbers have not been published by the RCM. Each BU coin ships in a credit-card-sized assay card certifying weight, purity, and authenticity with a tamper-evident seal. The 2015 Growling Cougar and 2016 Roaring Grizzly proof editions (250 pieces each) are the rarest coins in the series.

All coins feature a serrated edge. The obverse shows the Queen Elizabeth II portrait by Susanna Blunt, with inscriptions including "ELIZABETH II", "CANADA", the face value, and year. The series concluded before the Royal Canadian Mint transitioned to the King Charles III portrait.

Call of the Wild Tax Treatment by Country

The Call of the Wild coins are legal tender in Canada with a face value of CAD $200 (1 oz) or CAD $20 (1/10 oz), backed by the Canadian government. The gold content is worth far more than the face value, but the legal tender status affects tax treatment in several jurisdictions.

Purchase Tax

• Canada: GST/HST exempt as investment gold. Legal tender coins from the Royal Canadian Mint at .995+ purity automatically qualify under the Excise Tax Act.
• United Kingdom: VAT-free as investment gold. The .99999 purity comfortably exceeds the .995 threshold, and the coins are legal tender from a recognised sovereign mint.
• European Union: VAT-exempt under the EU Investment Gold Directive.
• United States: No federal sales tax. State-level bullion exemptions apply in most states (roughly 35 states fully exempt). See the state-by-state breakdown.
• Australia: GST-free on first supply as investment gold (.995+ purity).
• Singapore: GST-exempt under the Investment Precious Metals (IPM) scheme. The .99999 purity meets the .995 minimum, and the coin is legal tender.
• Hong Kong: No sales tax of any kind.

Capital Gains and Resale

In the United Kingdom, the Call of the Wild is not UK legal tender, so gains on disposal are subject to CGT at the individual's rate (up to 24% for higher-rate taxpayers), after the £3,000 annual allowance. Buyers who need CGT exemption should consider the Britannia instead.

In the United States, the coins are IRA-eligible. The .99999 purity far exceeds the IRS Section 408(m) requirement of .995 for gold. Gains outside an IRA are taxed at the 28% collectibles rate for holdings over one year. In Canada, 50% of capital gains are included in taxable income (66.67% above CAD 250,000 annually since June 2024). The coins are eligible for RRSP and TFSA accounts.

Five Nines and Canadian Wildlife

Refining gold to 99.999% purity is technically demanding. The additional 0.009% difference between .9999 and .99999 requires specialised refining techniques that very few facilities in the world can achieve. The Royal Canadian Mint is one of them, and the Call of the Wild series was designed to showcase this capability. The RCM had previously produced a special-edition .99999 Gold Maple Leaf, but the Call of the Wild made five-nine purity a sustained, multi-year programme rather than a one-off.

The seven animals span Canada's geographic diversity. The wolf represents Arctic and boreal habitats; the cougar and grizzly represent mountain ecosystems; the elk and moose represent forests; the golden eagle covers prairie and sky; and the bobcat occupies mixed habitats across the country. Pierre Leduc's designs were commissioned to capture each animal at its most powerful moment, with stylised sound wave lines emanating from the animal's mouth to suggest vocalisation.

The RCM incorporated their standard Bullion DNA anti-counterfeiting system into each coin: an encrypted registration code encoded in a privy mark, readable only by authorised DNA Bullion readers. Each coin also carries a micro-engraved maple leaf on the reverse with the last two digits of the mintage year laser-engraved within it, visible only under magnification. BU versions have a hand-polished mirror finish that shows fine detail.

The half-kilogram proof versions (20-25 pieces per year, produced from 2014 to 2017) are among the rarest modern gold coins. At 500g of .9999 gold per coin, each represents substantial gold content. These large proofs use four-nine rather than five-nine purity, carry a CAD $1,250 face value, and measure 85 mm in diameter.

Call of the Wild vs Maple Leaf, Buffalo, and Kangaroo

The closest comparison is the Gold Maple Leaf from the same mint. The Maple Leaf is .9999 fine (four nines) versus the Call of the Wild's .99999 (five nines). The Maple Leaf has unlimited mintage and consistently lower premiums, making it the better choice for pure bullion accumulation at the lowest cost per ounce. The Call of the Wild carries a collector premium, typically 5-15% above standard bullion pricing, reflecting the limited availability and annual design changes.

Against the American Gold Buffalo, the purity gap is the same: the Buffalo is .9999 fine with a fixed design. The Buffalo is America's first and only .9999 gold coin but remains a standard bullion issue with high mintages. The Call of the Wild's five-nine purity is unique among major bullion coin series and is its primary differentiator in any comparison.

The Australian Kangaroo shares the annual design change concept and .9999 purity, giving it a similar collectible dimension. The Kangaroo has higher mintages and broader availability. The Chinese Panda also changes design annually, but uses .999 purity (three nines) and switched from troy ounces to metric grams in 2016.

For buyers comparing on liquidity and cost, the Maple Leaf wins. For buyers who value the highest available purity and want a finite, completed series with collector potential, the Call of the Wild occupies a niche that no other product fills. The fact that the series is complete (2014-2020) and not being extended adds to the collector premium, particularly for early-year issues like the 2014 Howling Wolf.