1/10 oz Devil's Brigade Gold Coin

The 1/10 oz Devil's Brigade Gold Coin

This Royal Canadian Mint coin honours the First Special Service Force, the joint American-Canadian commando unit of World War II that German troops nicknamed the Devil's Brigade. It contains 1/10 oz (3.11 g) of .9999 fine gold, carries a $5 CAD face value, and was struck in brilliant uncirculated condition from 2013 through roughly 2018 with a consistent design, so dealers now sell remaining stock as random-year inventory.

The 1/10 oz format is the smallest commonly produced fractional gold coin and the gateway weight for gold ownership: a low absolute price point, easy gifting, and maximum divisibility. The structural trade-off applies here as everywhere at this weight, since minting costs are nearly the same as for a 1 oz coin but spread over one-tenth the gold, so 1/10 oz gold coins carry the highest relative premiums of any standard bullion weight. The Devil's Brigade adds a further layer on top: its mintage is described as limited rather than published, and per-ounce premiums run higher than the equivalent 1/10 oz Gold Maple Leaf from the same mint.

What you get for that is a coin with genuine binational meaning. The series launched in 2013, the same year the US Congress awarded the unit a Congressional Gold Medal, and the American half of the FSSF heritage gives it appeal to US military collectors as well as Canadian buyers. It is a commemorative positioned as bullion: government-guaranteed gold first, story second.

Devil's Brigade 1/10 oz Gold Specifications

At 16 mm across, the coin is tiny, smaller than a UK 5p piece, so capsules or sealed sheets are essential to avoid loss or contact damage. Weight and purity are guaranteed by the Royal Canadian Mint and backed by the Government of Canada. The RCM's standard quality controls apply, though the specific anti-counterfeiting features used on this series have not been individually documented; the micro-engraved privy mark added to Maple Leafs in 2014 is not confirmed for the Devil's Brigade coins. The series also includes a 1/2 oz silver version and a 2,000-mintage 1/4 oz gold collector issue from 2013.

Tax Treatment of the Devil's Brigade Gold Coin

As a .9999 legal tender gold coin, this product clears the investment-gold purity thresholds in every major jurisdiction.

• Canada: The home market. 0% GST/HST for gold at 99.5%+ purity in coin form; this legal tender RCM coin qualifies. Capital gains are taxable at the 50% inclusion rate.
• USA: A significant market given the FSSF's American heritage. Most states exempt bullion from sales tax. Long-term gains are taxed at the collectibles rate of up to 28%. The $5 CAD face value has no US tax relevance.
• UK: 0% VAT as investment gold. Not CGT-exempt, since that applies only to UK legal tender coins; a 1/10 oz gold Britannia is the CGT-free alternative at this weight.
• EU: VAT-exempt as investment gold under Directive 98/80/EC.
• Australia: 0% GST for investment-grade gold at 99.5%+ purity.
• New Zealand: GST-exempt at 99.5%+ gold purity; as a .9999 coin it avoids the 15% GST that catches 22ct coins.
• Singapore: 0% GST for qualifying legal tender gold coins; no capital gains tax.
• Hong Kong: No sales tax, no duties, no capital gains tax.

The First Special Service Force, 1942-1944

The First Special Service Force was formed in July 1942 at Fort William Henry Harrison near Helena, Montana: roughly 1,400 American and Canadian troops trained together in mountain warfare, demolitions, amphibious operations and close combat. The unit fought in the Aleutian Islands, through the Italian campaign including Monte la Difensa and Anzio, and in Operation Dragoon in southern France. At Anzio, German prisoners confirmed the unit's nickname, Die Schwarze Teufel, the Black Devils, earned through blackened-face night raids. The force was disbanded on December 5, 1944 in Menton, France, and its veterans went on to become founding members of both the US Army Special Forces and the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command. A 1968 film starring William Holden dramatised the story.

The Royal Canadian Mint launched the coin series in 2013, the same year Congress awarded the unit a Congressional Gold Medal, part of a concerted effort to recognise the force while surviving members, by then in their late 80s and 90s, could see it. The design stayed constant across the run. The obverse carries Susanna Blunt's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II; the reverse reproduces the unit's red arrowhead shoulder patch with "USA" stitched vertically and "CANADA" horizontally, flanked by a US Army star and a Canadian maple leaf, with two crossed arrows below and the unit's name in both English and French. Production ran to about 2018, and the series is no longer current.

Devil's Brigade vs Maple Leaf and Other 1/10 oz Gold

The most direct rival comes from the same mint. The 1/10 oz Gold Maple Leaf shares the .9999 purity and $5 CAD face value but is a high-volume annual series with global recognition and lower per-ounce premiums; the Devil's Brigade is a limited-mintage themed coin that costs more per ounce and has a smaller buyer pool at resale. Stackers optimising cost pick the Maple Leaf; the Devil's Brigade is for buyers who value the FSSF story or collect military themes.

Against US military commemoratives, the positioning differs. The US Mint's military-themed coins are typically proof-finish collector products at collector prices, while the Devil's Brigade was struck as brilliant uncirculated bullion and sold nearer to metal value. For an American buyer drawn to the unit's history, this is the bullion-priced way to own it, and the Congressional Gold Medal link adds resonance. Other 1/10 oz sovereign options, the 1/10 oz Gold Eagle and Britannia among them, bring the strongest liquidity at this weight but no Canadian connection.

Within its own series, the 1/10 oz gold is the accessible entry; the 1/2 oz silver version offers the same design at a far lower price point, and the 1/4 oz gold proof of 2013, with its 2,000 mintage, is the genuinely scarce collector piece.