2 oz The Royal Mint Lunar Gold Coin

The Shengxiao Collection at Double-Ounce Size

The Royal Mint's Lunar series, officially the Shengxiao Collection after the Chinese term for the zodiac cycle, was the first official UK lunar coin programme, launched in 2014 with the Year of the Horse. It pairs British minting heritage with the Chinese zodiac tradition, changing the reverse animal each year, and a second twelve-year cycle began in 2026 with a new Horse design. This 2 oz version contains two troy ounces (62.207 g) of .9999 fine gold.

The decisive feature for UK buyers is tax. As UK legal tender, Royal Mint Lunar coins are CGT-exempt, an advantage no Perth Mint Lunar or other foreign zodiac coin can offer a UK investor, and the gold versions are VAT-free as investment gold. That combination means a UK buyer selling at a profit keeps the entire gain, where an identical profit on a Perth Lunar coin would be taxable above the annual allowance.

The 2 oz weight itself is a Royal Mint speciality: the Mint mainstreamed the format with the Queen's Beasts series, and 2 oz coins are bought largely for the bigger canvas they give detailed designs rather than for premium savings, which are minimal versus 1 oz coins. Worth knowing before buying: from 2021 the Royal Mint discontinued bullion-grade Lunar releases in favour of Proof and Brilliant Uncirculated quality only, which raised premiums and shifted the series toward the collector end of the market.

2 oz Royal Mint Lunar Gold Specifications

The Lunar range spans a wide denomination ladder, with gold issued from 1/10 oz pieces up to 5 oz and 1 kg coins; for reference, the 1 oz gold coin measures 38.61mm in diameter with a £100 face value and a milled edge. The series carries several distinctive design elements: a guilloche background pattern on the obverse, introduced with this series, and the number 8, the luckiest number in Chinese culture, deliberately incorporated into each coin's mintage or design.

Obverse portraits track the monarchy: Ian Rank-Broadley's Elizabeth II portrait on the 2014-2015 issues, Jody Clark's from 2016 to 2023, and Martin Jennings' King Charles III portrait from 2024. Reverse designs change annually with the zodiac animal and have come from several artists, beginning with British-Chinese printmaker Wuon-Gean Ho, who designed the first four issues. Royal Mint authentication comes via sealed packaging, and as with any premium coin, keeping the original packaging intact supports resale value.

Tax Treatment of the 2 oz Gold Lunar

This coin's tax profile is one of its strongest selling points, particularly at home in the UK.

• United Kingdom: VAT-free as investment gold, and CGT-exempt as UK legal tender. Gains of any size are tax-free for UK individuals, which matters more on a 2 oz coin than a small fractional because the absolute gains are larger. Most foreign gold coins (Krugerrands, Eagles, Maples, Perth Lunars) are VAT-free but remain CGT-liable above the £3,000 annual allowance.
• EU: 0% VAT as investment gold under the EU directive covering legal tender gold coins.
• United States: no federal sales tax; most states exempt bullion, and a 2 oz gold coin exceeds every state threshold. Gains are taxed at the collectibles rate of up to 28%. UK legal tender coins at .9999 gold are generally IRA-eligible, with custodian confirmation advised.
• Canada: GST/HST exempt at 99.5%+ purity, and the purity meets RRSP requirements.
• Australia: gold Lunar coins are GST-free as investment-grade gold. This is Perth Mint's home market, where the local Lunar series dominates.
• New Zealand: GST-exempt at 99.5%+ gold purity.
• Singapore and Hong Kong: no GST on qualifying investment gold in Singapore and no tax at all in Hong Kong; the zodiac theme gives the series cultural resonance in both markets.

From the 2014 Horse to the Second Cycle

The Royal Mint entered the lunar coin market in 2014, eighteen years after Perth Mint pioneered the format, with the Year of the Horse. Starting at the Horse rather than the Rat (the cycle's traditional first animal) was a pragmatic production-timeline decision rather than a cultural statement. The first cycle ran Horse through Snake (2025): Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig, Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, and Dragon in between, and the second cycle opened in 2026 with a fresh Horse design.

The early artistic identity came from Wuon-Gean Ho, a British-Chinese artist who designed the 2014-2017 reverses. Her background is unusual for coinage: she is a print artist specialising in wood engravings, and her heritage made her a fitting bridge for a series uniting British and Chinese traditions. Later reverses came from Harry Brockway (2018-2019), P.J. Lynch (2020-2021), David Lawrence (2022), and various artists since.

The series' biggest turning point came in 2021, when the Royal Mint discontinued bullion-grade releases and moved to Proof and Brilliant Uncirculated quality only. The change was controversial among investors who had valued the Lunar as a low-premium bullion product, and secondary-market premiums for pre-2021 bullion versions have risen since. Mintages vary enormously across the series, from 300,000 pieces for the 2014 Horse silver bullion coin down to just 388 for the 2023 Rabbit gold proof, so the year and finish of a specific 2 oz coin matter to its collector value.

Royal Mint Lunar vs Perth Lunar and the 2 oz Field

The unavoidable comparison is Perth Mint's Lunar programme, the original and best-known lunar bullion series, running since 1996 and now in Series III. Perth offers a wider weight range (1/20 oz to 10 kg in gold), higher mintages, global distribution, and unbroken bullion-grade production, where the Royal Mint moved to collector finishes after 2020. As a low-cost zodiac bullion coin, Perth wins on availability and premium. The Royal Mint coin answers with UK CGT exemption, decisive for UK taxpayers, and lower mintages that give it collectibility. The Royal Australian Mint also issues lunar coins, though these are less widely traded internationally, and China's zodiac commemoratives are less accessible to Western buyers than either.

At the 2 oz weight specifically, the alternatives within the Royal Mint stable are the Queen's Beasts and Tudor Beasts series, which established the 2 oz format and share the same UK legal tender CGT exemption. The choice between them is thematic: heraldic beasts versus zodiac animals, with all three offering annual designs that add collector interest.

For buyers indifferent to the zodiac theme, two 1 oz gold Britannias deliver the same gold weight and the same UK tax treatment with better divisibility and lower premiums, since 2 oz coins price for their design appeal rather than cost efficiency. The Lunar earns its place when the design, the annual series structure, or the gift relevance of a birth-year animal matters.