St Helena Una and the Lion Gold

The St Helena Una and the Lion Gold Series

The Una and the Lion series is an annual coin programme issued by the Government of Saint Helena and produced and distributed by East India Company Bullion. First issued in 2020, it revives William Wyon's 1839 Una and the Lion design, widely regarded as one of the most beautiful coins ever produced, and releases a fresh artistic interpretation of the pairing each year rather than repeating a fixed motif. The series takes its name from Lady Una, the heroine of Edmund Spenser's 1590 epic poem The Faerie Queene; Wyon's original depicted the young Queen Victoria as Una, guiding a lion that represented England.

Gold versions are issued in proof finish across three sizes, 1 oz, 1/4 oz and 0.5g, and carry extremely limited mintages. The 2020 1 oz gold proof was capped at just 200 pieces, and gold editions in later years have remained strictly limited. The design also appears on gold bars sold through dealers, including a 1g Una and the Lion gold bar at the entry level. Silver companions in BU and proof finishes round out each annual release.

This positioning matters for buyers. Mintages are notably lower than mainstream bullion coins such as Britannias and Eagles, which places the series in collector-bullion crossover territory rather than pure stacking territory. Secondary market premiums can be substantial, especially for early years and gold versions, and the low-mintage gold proofs have appreciated significantly on the secondary market. Buyers wanting maximum gold for their money have cheaper routes; buyers drawn to the 1839 design heritage, the annual reinterpretations and the scarcity have few alternatives. The closest rival is the Royal Mint's own treatment of the same design, covered in the comparison tab, which takes the opposite approach: a faithful remaster of Wyon's original rather than a new artwork each year.

Una and the Lion Sizes, Mintages and Denominations

The gold side of the series consists of proof coins in three weights: 1 oz, 1/4 oz and 0.5g. The coins are legal tender in Saint Helena, denominated in pounds, and carry the effigy of the British monarch: Queen Elizabeth II through 2022 and King Charles III from 2023. Proof versions come encapsulated in presentation cases with certificates of authenticity.

The silver releases provide useful context for the gold mintages. The standard 1 oz silver BU coin is struck in .999 fine silver, measures 38.6mm in diameter, weighs 1 troy oz (31.1g) and carries a 1 pound St Helena denomination. Additional silver sizes include a 2 oz BU, a 5 oz proof and a 1 kg proof.

The gap between silver and gold output is stark. The 2020 1 oz silver BU ran to 5,000 pieces and the 2023 edition to 10,000, against just 200 examples of the 2020 1 oz gold proof: a twenty-five-fold difference in the launch year. That scarcity is the defining trait of the gold series and the main driver of its secondary market behaviour.

The bullion editions carry no specific micro-engraving or holographic security features. BU coins are capsulated, with multiples supplied in sealed rolls, and the coins are struck by East India Company Bullion under contract with various mints.

Tax Treatment of St Helena Una and the Lion Gold

These coins are legal tender in Saint Helena, a British Overseas Territory, at their face value in pounds. That status does not transfer to the UK tax system, which is the most important point for British buyers.

United Kingdom. The gold proof versions qualify as investment gold and are VAT-exempt on purchase. On disposal, however, St Helena coins are not UK legal tender, so they receive no CGT exemption. Gains are taxed under the normal CGT regime: an annual allowance of 3,000 GBP, then 18% for basic-rate taxpayers and 24% for higher-rate taxpayers. A UK buyer who expects large gains and wants to keep them tax-free would need a UK legal tender coin such as the gold Britannia instead.

United States. The coins are treated as bullion for tax purposes and are subject to state sales tax laws, which vary from full exemption to full taxation depending on the buyer's state. On sale, the IRS classifies physical gold as a collectible, taxed at a maximum long-term rate of 28% when held over a year; shorter holdings are taxed as ordinary income.

Purity-threshold jurisdictions. Canada (0% GST/HST), Australia (0% GST) and Singapore (GST-exempt under the Investment Precious Metals scheme) all tie their exemptions to gold of at least 99.5% purity, with Singapore restricting the coin exemption to issues on its approved IPM list. Buyers in these countries should confirm the fineness of the specific issue and year before assuming the exemption applies. Hong Kong charges no sales tax, no import duty and no capital gains tax on gold bullion regardless of the product.

From Wyon's 1839 Masterpiece to an Annual Series

The original Una and the Lion was created in 1839 by William Wyon, Chief Engraver at the Royal Mint from 1828 until his death in 1851. Struck as a five-pound gold coin, it showed the young Queen Victoria as Lady Una guiding the British Lion, encircled by the Latin inscription DIRIGE DEUS GRESSUS MEOS, meaning May God direct my steps. Depicting a reigning monarch as a fictional character was unprecedented in British coinage, and the gamble produced what the Royal Mint Museum calls one of the most beautiful coins in the world.

Una herself comes from Book I of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, published in 1590. She represents truth and the Church of England, travelling under the protection of a lion that symbolises England's strength. Wyon's pairing of the new queen with this literary heroine turned a coronation commemorative into an allegory of monarch and nation.

Only a few hundred of the 1839 originals were struck, as presentation pieces for collector sets rather than circulation. They are now among the most valuable British coins: a specimen sold for 4.2 million GBP at auction in 2024.

The St Helena series began in 2020, when the Government of Saint Helena and East India Company Bullion launched an annual programme based on the design. The modern coins are designed by Glyn Davies for the East India Company, and each yearly release reinterprets Una and her lion in a fresh pose while keeping the classical spirit of Wyon's original. The 2024 release is subtitled Faerie Queene, acknowledging the Spenser source directly.

Two background details add character to the series. The East India Company itself is a licensed revival: the historic company was dissolved in 1874, and the modern entity, established in 2010, operates under licence from the UK government. Saint Helena, the issuing territory, is one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world, a South Atlantic outpost best known as the place of Napoleon's exile, and it has issued collector coins through various partnerships for decades.

St Helena Una and the Lion vs the Royal Mint Versions

The most direct comparison is with the Royal Mint's own revivals of the same design. The Royal Mint issued a two-ounce gold proof Una and the Lion coin in 2019 under its Great Engravers programme, using a faithful reproduction of Wyon's original reverse. In 2021 it extended the design to bullion with the Great Engravers bars, reinterpreted by Jody Clark: the Royal Mint Una and the Lion gold bar is a 1 oz minted bar in .9999 gold, measuring 49.96 x 28.98mm, with a mintage of 4,000. Clark's version shows Una holding the orb and sceptre, standing side by side with the lion, both facing forward, shifting the symbolism from monarch leading the nation to monarch and nation facing the future together.

The two programmes take opposite approaches to the same heritage. The Royal Mint version is a direct remaster of the 1839 artwork; the St Helena series commissions a new interpretation every year. Collectors therefore have two distinct paths into the design: fidelity to Wyon, or an evolving annual take on his theme. The St Helena gold proofs are also far scarcer than the Royal Mint gold bar, 200 pieces for the 2020 1 oz proof against 4,000 bars.

For UK tax purposes the products end up in similar territory by different routes. The Royal Mint bars are not CGT-exempt because bars never qualify regardless of mint; the St Helena coins are not CGT-exempt because they are not UK legal tender. Neither carries the disposal advantage of a Britannia or Sovereign.

Against mainstream bullion, the contrast is mintage and intent. Mass-market coins such as gold Britannias and Eagles are produced in far larger quantities and trade as pure bullion. Other classical-design series from the Royal Mint, such as the Queen's Beasts and Tudor Beasts, offer limited-theme collecting but draw on heraldic rather than literary traditions. The Una and the Lion series occupies the narrow ground where a documented 19th-century design pedigree meets modern low-mintage issuance.