1 oz Guardian Lions Gold Coin

The 1 oz Guardian Lions Double Pixiu Gold Coin

The Guardian Lions, also marketed as the Double Pixiu, is a Perth Mint gold bullion coin issued in 2021 in a one troy ounce brilliant uncirculated format struck in .9999 fine gold. It belongs to the mint's programme of Asian-culture-themed bullion coins aimed at Chinese and East Asian buyers, sitting alongside series such as the Dragon and Phoenix and the much larger Perth Mint Lunar range. The coin is Australian legal tender under the Australian Currency Act 1965 with a face value of $100 AUD, which gives it a government guarantee of weight and purity that privately minted rounds and bars lack.

The practical case for picking this coin over a standard 1 oz sovereign issue is scarcity. The 2021 gold bullion version had a mintage of just 5,000 coins, a fraction of what mainstream bullion coins run, so it trades as a low-mintage collector-investor hybrid rather than a pure stacking coin. Buyers get the full metal content of any 1oz gold coin plus a design with strong cultural resonance: paired Pixiu creatures from Chinese mythology, symbols of wealth attraction and wealth protection. The coin also carries a micro-laser-engraved security mark visible only under magnification, a Perth Mint anti-counterfeiting feature, and its four-nines purity is straightforward to verify by specific gravity testing.

Distribution adds to the niche character. The series was originally released exclusively through the Hong Kong dealer LPM, an unusual move for Perth Mint that signalled a deliberate Asian-market-first strategy. Coins have since reached major Western dealers, but availability is thinner than for the mint's flagship Kangaroo, and dealer counts on comparison tables reflect that. For a buyer who wants Perth Mint quality with a short production run, this coin and its 2020 silver counterpart occupy a space the high-mintage sovereign series do not.

Guardian Lions 1 oz Gold Coin Specifications

The bullion version of the gold Guardian Lions was struck once, in 2021, in brilliant uncirculated finish. A separate 2 oz high-relief proof was issued the same year in a wooden presentation box.

The reverse shows two Pixiu seated facing each other on a mound of traditional Chinese coins, framed by an ornamental oriental border, designed by Perth Mint artist Ing Ing Jong. The male Pixiu on the left grasps an embroidered ball; the female on the right restrains a cub. The obverse carries the Jody Clark effigy of Queen Elizabeth II, as the coin predates the transition to King Charles III effigies. Each coin includes the Perth Mint 'P' mintmark and a micro-laser-engraved security feature that is only visible under magnification. For reference, the related 2 oz gold proof carried a $250 AUD face value, a 36.6 mm diameter, and a mintage of only 250 pieces.

Guardian Lions Gold Coin Tax Treatment by Country

As a .9999 fine legal tender gold coin, the Guardian Lions qualifies as investment gold in every major jurisdiction, so purchase taxes are rarely an issue. What varies is the treatment of gains when you sell.

• UK: 0% VAT as investment gold. It is not UK legal tender, so it is not exempt from Capital Gains Tax; gains above the annual allowance (currently £3,000) are taxable, unlike gains on a Britannia or Sovereign.
• US: No federal sales tax, and most states exempt bullion; a handful still tax it. The coin's .9999 purity exceeds the IRS 99.5% threshold, so it is IRA eligible. Long-term gains outside an IRA are taxed at the collectibles rate of up to 28%.
• Australia: GST-free as investment-grade gold at or above 99.5% purity. CGT applies on disposal, with a 50% discount for individuals after a 12-month holding period.
• Canada: Exempt from GST/HST as gold refined to at least 99.5% purity in coin form.
• Hong Kong and Singapore: No sales tax on investment-grade gold and no capital gains tax in either jurisdiction, which fits the series' original Asian-market distribution through Hong Kong.
• EU: 0% VAT under the Investment Gold Directive, which covers post-1800 legal tender gold coins of at least 900 fineness.

The Double Pixiu: A Two-Year Perth Mint Series

Perth Mint launched the Guardian Lions series in 2020 with silver issues (a 1 oz bullion coin with a 50,000 mintage and a 1,000-piece 2 oz high-relief proof) and followed in 2021 with the gold issues: this 1 oz bullion coin at 5,000 pieces and a 2 oz proof limited to 250. No releases from 2022 onward have been confirmed, so the series appears to be a deliberately short run. All versions were designed by Ing Ing Jong, a Perth Mint artist known for Asian-themed work, and initially distributed exclusively through Lee Precious Metals (LPM) in Hong Kong.

The subject matter explains the targeting. The Pixiu, sometimes called Pi Yao, is a mythical Chinese hybrid creature with a dragon's head and a lion's body. In the legend, it violated a law of Heaven and was punished by the Jade Emperor, who sealed its rectum permanently; because it could consume gold, silver, and jewels but never expel them, it became a symbol of accumulating and preserving wealth. Guardian lion statues, often called Foo Dogs in the West, have flanked the entrances of Chinese palaces, temples, tombs, and homes for centuries, the male with a ball guarding the structure and the female with a cub protecting those inside. The coin's paired composition reproduces exactly that arrangement, which is why the "Double Pixiu" name matters: the pair represents both wealth attraction and wealth protection. Aftermarket gilded and coloured variants exist, produced by third-party modifiers using genuine Perth Mint coins as blanks, and these should not be confused with official mint releases.

Guardian Lions vs Lunar, Dragon and Phoenix, and Panda

Within Perth Mint's own catalogue, the closest comparison is the Lunar series, which shares the Asian cultural theme but operates at a completely different scale: mintages of 300,000 or more and a broad weight range, against the Guardian Lions' single 5,000-coin gold issue. The Lunar is the liquid, widely stocked choice; the Guardian Lions is the exclusive one. The Dragon and Phoenix series, which ran from 2017 to 2020, occupied similar market positioning as a niche Asian-themed Perth Mint product and is the most direct stylistic predecessor.

Outside Australia, the Chinese Gold Panda is the obvious alternative for a buyer drawn to Chinese iconography. The Panda has far greater global recognition and liquidity than the Guardian Lions, which targets a more specialised collector-investor niche; a stacker prioritising easy resale would normally take the Panda or a mainstream 1oz gold coin such as the Kangaroo, while a buyer wanting scarcity takes the Pixiu. PAMP Suisse also produces lunar-themed bars with Asian-market appeal, but those differ in both format and issuer: bars from a Swiss private refiner rather than legal tender coins from a sovereign mint, without a face value or the UK and EU coin-specific tax framing that legal tender status brings.

Against the 2020 1 oz silver Guardian Lions, the gold coin is the scarcer issue by an order of magnitude: 5,000 versus 50,000 minted. Both share the Ing Ing Jong reverse design, .9999 purity, and the micro-laser security mark.