1 oz Queen's Beasts Platinum Coin

Queen's Beasts Platinum: Royal Mint Heraldry in a Completed Series

The 1 oz Queen's Beasts Platinum Coin is part of The Royal Mint's ten-coin heraldic series (plus an 11th Completer Coin), issued between 2016 and 2021. The series celebrated the ten heraldic beasts represented as six-foot plaster statues at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, each tracing the Queen's ancestry through centuries of British heraldry. Every coin was designed by Jody Clark, the Royal Mint engraver who also created the fifth definitive coinage portrait of Elizabeth II.

The platinum version was available in 1 oz only, struck to 999.5 fineness with a face value of £100 GBP. As UK legal tender, all Queen's Beasts coins carry a significant tax advantage for British residents: CGT exemption on disposal. This is the same benefit that applies to the Britannia and Sovereign, and it makes the Queen's Beasts one of the very few platinum coins where UK buyers avoid capital gains tax on their profits.

The series concluded with the Completer Coin in April 2021, featuring all ten beasts on a single design. No further production will occur, making the Queen's Beasts a closed set. Bullion versions had no mintage cap during their production year and were struck to meet demand, but supply is now fixed to what was produced. Secondary market premiums have risen since the series ended, particularly for early releases like the Lion of England (2016).

For UK investors choosing between the Queen's Beasts and the Platinum Britannia, both offer CGT exemption, but the Britannia is an ongoing series with current availability. The Queen's Beasts' appeal is its completed collector set, its heraldic designs, and the fixed supply that comes with a concluded programme. For non-UK buyers, the CGT advantage disappears, and the Queen's Beasts competes primarily on design appeal and collector interest.

Queen's Beasts Platinum Coin Specifications

The Ten Beasts

Security Features

From 2018, Queen's Beasts bullion coins featured a guilloche patterned background, a braided-ribbon geometric pattern that adds visual depth and serves as a counterfeiting deterrent. The four-feature security suite (surface animation, latent image, tincture lines, micro-text) is exclusive to the Britannia series and was not applied to Queen's Beasts coins.

Queen's Beasts Platinum Tax Treatment by Country

The Queen's Beasts platinum coin's key tax distinction is its UK legal tender status, which grants CGT exemption that most other platinum coins lack.

United Kingdom

As UK legal tender, the Queen's Beasts Platinum is CGT-exempt for UK residents. This exemption covers all ten designs plus the Completer Coin. On the purchase side, platinum carries 20% VAT, the same as all non-gold bullion in the UK. The combination of VAT on entry but no CGT on exit is shared with the Platinum Britannia and the Platinum Tudor Beasts, making these three series the most tax-efficient platinum options for UK investors.

United States

The Queen's Beasts Platinum is not IRA-eligible. Only US Mint products and certain specifically approved foreign coins qualify for precious metals IRAs, and the Queen's Beasts is not on the approved list. Capital gains are taxed at the collectibles rate of up to 28%. Most states exempt bullion from sales tax.

European Union

Platinum coins are subject to standard VAT rates (17-27% depending on country). There is no investment platinum exemption equivalent to the EU Investment Gold Directive. The margin scheme may apply to second-hand Queen's Beasts in some EU countries.

Canada

Platinum at 99.5% purity or above is GST/HST-exempt. The Queen's Beasts qualifies at 999.5 fineness. Capital gains are taxed at a 50% inclusion rate.

Australia and New Zealand

Both countries exempt platinum at 99% purity or above from GST. Australia applies CGT with a 50% discount for holdings over 12 months; New Zealand has no CGT.

Singapore and Hong Kong

Singapore exempts qualifying platinum from 9% GST. Hong Kong charges no sales tax, duties, or CGT. Both are fully tax-free for platinum bullion.

From Coronation Statues to Platinum Bullion

The Queen's Beasts trace their origin to the coronation of Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953. Ten plaster statues, each six feet tall, were carved by sculptor James Woodford RA and placed along the processional route at Westminster Abbey. Each statue depicted a heraldic beast holding a shield with the royal arms or dynastic badge it represented, together tracing Elizabeth's ancestry from the Plantagenets through the Tudors, Stuarts, and Hanoverians to the modern House of Windsor.

After the coronation, the statues were dispersed. Portland stone replicas were placed at Kew Gardens, where they remain today. Others went to the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa. The original plaster statues themselves were variously stored, displayed, and in some cases damaged over the following decades.

The Royal Mint's coin series launched in March 2016 with the Lion of England in gold and silver. The first release was exclusively distributed in North America by Wholesale Direct Metals. Platinum versions followed as the series expanded, always in the 1 oz format. Jody Clark designed all ten reverse compositions, each showing a stylised heraldic beast holding its associated shield. The designs were more dynamic and detailed than the static heraldic forms of the original statues, adapting the medieval symbolism for a modern numismatic context.

Two designs were released per year, with the final regular issue (White Greyhound of Richmond) and the Completer Coin both appearing in 2021. The Completer Coin featured all ten beasts arranged around a central shield, providing a capstone for the collection. A 10 kg gold proof variant of the Completer Coin carried a face value of £10,000 GBP.

The series' conclusion in 2021 paved the way for the Tudor Beasts (2022-2026), a successor programme drawing on the heraldic statues of Hampton Court Palace. The Tudor Beasts share the same guilloche security features and CGT-exempt legal tender status, continuing the Royal Mint's "beasts" franchise for collector-investors.

Queen's Beasts vs Tudor Beasts, Britannia, and Maple Leaf

The Queen's Beasts most naturally compares with the Tudor Beasts (its direct successor), the Britannia (the Royal Mint's core platinum coin), and the Maple Leaf (the international platinum benchmark).

For UK investors, the choice between Queen's Beasts and Tudor Beasts comes down to availability and collector preference. Both carry CGT exemption, both feature guilloche backgrounds, and both present heraldic beasts on annually changing designs. The Queen's Beasts has the advantage of being a complete set with fixed supply, which may support premium appreciation. The Tudor Beasts has the advantage of current availability at bullion premiums.

The Britannia is the Royal Mint's primary platinum coin, with annual production and the widest dealer availability. It lacks the collectible format of the Beasts series but offers straightforward platinum accumulation with CGT exemption. For UK investors who want platinum without the collector dimension, the Britannia is the simpler choice.

The Maple Leaf provides the international comparison. It trades at lower premiums than any Royal Mint platinum coin and has the deepest global secondary market. Its Bullion DNA security system offers individual coin-level verification that neither the Queen's Beasts nor Britannia can match. For non-UK investors who do not benefit from CGT exemption, the Maple Leaf is typically the most cost-efficient sovereign platinum coin.