5g Queen's Beasts Gold Bar

Royal Mint Heraldry in a 5 Gram Gold Bar

The 5g Queen's Beasts Gold Bar from The Royal Mint carries the heraldic imagery of the ten beasts that stood guard at Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953. The original Queen's Beasts coin series ran from 2016 to 2021 across gold, silver, and platinum coins, designed entirely by Royal Mint engraver Jody Clark. The bar format extends this collectible series into a format that appeals to investors who prefer bars over coins but still want the thematic connection to one of The Royal Mint's most successful modern bullion programmes.

Each bar is struck to 999.9 fineness, matching the purity of the Queen's Beasts coins. At 5 grams, this is a compact fractional gold bar that sits in the same price range as other premium branded 5g gold bars. The Royal Mint's involvement provides sovereign mint backing, government quality assurance, and the prestige associated with one of the world's oldest minting institutions, with origins tracing back to 886 AD.

The Queen's Beasts series traced Elizabeth II's ancestry through heraldic symbols: from the Lion of England (linked to Richard I) through the Red Dragon of Wales (Henry VII's Welsh badge) to the White Horse of Hanover (George I's continental heritage). The series concluded with a Completer Coin in April 2021 that gathered all ten beasts on a single design. As a completed and discontinued series, Queen's Beasts products occupy a fixed-supply collectible niche that may attract numismatic premiums over time, particularly for early releases where the original unlimited mintage has now stopped.

Queen's Beasts 5g Gold Bar Specifications

The Ten Beasts

The series drew from the plaster statues sculpted by James Woodford RA for the coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Each beast holds a shield bearing the royal arms or dynastic badge it represents:

1. Lion of England (2016)
2. Griffin of Edward III (2017)
3. Red Dragon of Wales (2017)
4. Black Bull of Clarence (2018)
5. Unicorn of Scotland (2018)
6. Yale of Beaufort (2019)
7. Falcon of the Plantagenets (2019)
8. White Lion of Mortimer (2020)
9. White Horse of Hanover (2020)
10. White Greyhound of Richmond (2021)

The 11th and final Completer Coin featured all ten beasts arranged around a central shield. After the coronation, the original stone statues were dispersed to locations including Kew Gardens and the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa.

Tax Treatment for the 5g Queen's Beasts Gold Bar

The tax treatment of this product requires careful distinction between the Queen's Beasts bars and the Queen's Beasts coins. The coins are UK legal tender with stated face values and qualify for CGT exemption. The bars do not carry a face value and are not legal tender, which changes their tax position in the UK.

Purchase Tax

• United Kingdom: VAT-exempt as investment gold (999.9 purity exceeds the 995 threshold). Gold bars from any source are VAT-free for non-VAT-registered individuals.
• European Union: VAT-exempt under the EU Investment Gold Directive.
• United States: No federal sales tax. State exemptions vary.
• Canada: GST/HST exempt at 99.5%+ purity.
• Australia: GST-free as investment-grade gold.
• Singapore: GST-exempt under the IPM scheme.
• Hong Kong: No sales tax of any kind.

Capital Gains Tax

This is where the bar and coin formats diverge for UK buyers. Queen's Beasts coins (gold 1 oz at £100 face value, 1/4 oz at £25) are UK legal tender and therefore CGT-exempt. The 5g Queen's Beasts gold bar is not legal tender, so it is subject to CGT on disposal gains above the £3,000 annual allowance at 18% or 24% depending on income. UK buyers specifically seeking the CGT exemption should consider the 1oz Queen's Beasts gold coin instead, or other Royal Mint legal tender products like the 5g Britannia gold bar.

The Queen's Beasts coins are also not IRA-eligible in the United States, as IRA rules recognise only US Mint products and certain specifically approved foreign coins. The bar format faces the same limitation unless held through a custodian that accepts bars at 99.5%+ purity from recognised mints.

Queen's Beasts Bar vs Other Royal Mint 5g Gold Bars

The Royal Mint produces several gold bar lines at the 5g weight. The 5g Britannia gold bar is the most widely available and the most liquid of the Royal Mint's bar offerings. The 5g standard Royal Mint bar provides the institutional look without a specific theme. The Queen's Beasts bar adds collectible and thematic value from a completed series, which may appeal to buyers who followed the coin programme and want matching bars.

Against bars from other refiners at this weight, The Royal Mint's sovereign mint status provides a government-backed quality guarantee that private refiners cannot match. The 5g PAMP Suisse Fortuna remains the most globally liquid branded bar at this weight, with Veriscan digital authentication and the widest dealer network. The Queen's Beasts bar trades on its collectible appeal and Royal Mint provenance rather than competing on premium efficiency.

The completed status of the Queen's Beasts series is a double-edged consideration. Supply is now fixed, which may support premiums over time as available inventory is absorbed. Conversely, the series was produced in unlimited quantities during its run, so scarcity is relative. The spiritual successor to Queen's Beasts is the Tudor Beasts series (2022 onwards), which follows the same ten-beast format with designs from Tudor heraldry.