1 oz Five Blessings Gold Coin

The Wu Fu in Canadian Gold

The Five Blessings is a Royal Canadian Mint series inspired by the traditional Chinese concept of Wu Fu, the five blessings of longevity, wealth, health, virtue and a peaceful death. The concept comes from the Shujing (Book of Documents), one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature, predating 300 BCE. The series launched in 2014 as an annual release aimed at the Asian and Chinese-heritage collector and investor market, and the 2014 issue included this 1 oz gold coin alongside a 1/10 oz gold version and the better-known 1 oz silver release.

The design carries the symbolism rather than just referencing it. Four animals from Chinese tradition each stand for one of the blessings: the bat for happiness (the Chinese word for bat, fu, sounds identical to the word for blessing), the deer for career success and prosperity, two cranes for longevity, and the magpie for joy, with an upside-down magpie suggesting the arrival of good fortune. The right side of the coin carries intricate circular imagery overlaid with the Chinese character used to wish good fortune. Earlier issues carry Susanna Blunt's effigy of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse, with later issues transitioning to King Charles III.

As a buying proposition, the Five Blessings sits between pure bullion and high-premium collectibles. It is sovereign-mint gold with the RCM's standard bullion security features, but mintages are deliberately modest and previous years' editions have reportedly sold out, with secondary market values rising. Even the mintage numbers carry meaning: the 2014 silver issue was capped at 8,500 and a 2018 collector variant at 6,888, trading on 8 as an exceptionally lucky number in Chinese culture. Buyers get culturally significant gold that doubles as a Chinese New Year gift, at the cost of a premium above generic bullion.

Tax Treatment of the Five Blessings Gold Coin

As a legal tender gold coin from a sovereign mint at .9999 fineness, the Five Blessings clears the investment-gold thresholds everywhere that matters.

• Canada: GST/HST exempt as a legal tender precious metals coin from the RCM, a Crown corporation. The exemption applies federally to gold refined to 99.5% or better. Capital gains on disposal are taxable at Canada's 50% inclusion rate.
• United States: IRA eligible as a .9999 fine gold coin from a sovereign mint. No federal sales tax; most states exempt bullion, others tax it or apply thresholds. Long-term gains are taxed at the collectibles rate of up to 28%. A US allocation of 25,000 coins for the 2016 silver release points to established US dealer distribution for the series.
• United Kingdom: 0% VAT as investment gold. The coin is Canadian legal tender, not UK legal tender, so it is not CGT-exempt; gains above the £3,000 annual allowance are taxable, unlike with a Britannia.
• EU: VAT-exempt under the EU investment gold directive.
• Hong Kong and Singapore: No tax on investment gold, and the coin's cultural theme gives it natural demand among Chinese-heritage buyers in both markets.

Five Blessings vs Lunar, Maple Leaf and Panda

The most direct competitor is the Perth Mint Lunar series, the most established Asian-themed bullion programme. Lunar coins rotate one zodiac animal per year, are more widely recognised, and enjoy higher secondary-market liquidity. The Five Blessings answers with a denser symbolic design, all five blessings and their four animal emblems on a single coin, and smaller mintages from a different sovereign mint.

Within the RCM's own catalogue, the 1 oz Gold Maple Leaf is the baseline: same mint, same .9999 purity, but a generic perpetual design produced at scale. The Maple Leaf is the cheaper and more liquid way to hold RCM gold; the Five Blessings charges a modest premium for thematic variety and scarcity. Stackers optimising cost per ounce should buy the Maple; buyers who want the design, or a culturally meaningful gift that is still investment-grade gold, are the Five Blessings' audience.

The Chinese Gold Panda is the third reference point, as the China Mint's flagship also targets Chinese-heritage collectors with annual design changes. The Panda runs at .999 purity against the Five Blessings' .9999 and carries higher premiums, with collector demand driven by its long-running design rotation. The Five Blessings occupies the niche between these poles: scarcer than a mainstream gold coin, cheaper and more bullion-like than a Panda, and unique in tying its design to the Wu Fu rather than the zodiac. For buyers already committed to 1 oz sovereign gold, the choice mostly comes down to which story you want the coin to tell and how much premium you will pay to tell it.