10 oz Tudor Beasts Silver Coin

The 10 oz Tudor Beasts Silver Coin

The 10 oz Tudor Beasts is a large-format silver coin from The Royal Mint's current heraldic series (2022-2026), the successor to the popular Queen's Beasts. Struck in .9999 fine silver with a GBP 10 face value, it is one of the few 10 oz silver coins currently in production that carries UK CGT exemption as legal tender.

The series draws its designs from the King's Beasts stone statues on the Moat Bridge of Hampton Court Palace, originally built by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey from 1514 and later acquired by Henry VIII. Ten designs are being released over five years, two per year, with David Lawrence designing all reverses. Each beast holds a shield bearing Tudor heraldic arms, and the designs are rendered in a dynamic, detailed style that reflects the Tudor era's boldness.

For UK buyers specifically, the Tudor Beasts at 10 oz occupies a unique position. It combines a meaningful weight of silver (over 300 grams) with CGT exemption, .9999 purity, and the credibility of The Royal Mint. The only comparable product with those combined characteristics is the now-completed 10 oz Queen's Beasts. The larger 1 kg silver coins from Perth Mint do not carry UK CGT exemption.

Tudor Beasts 10 oz Silver Coin Specifications

The .9999 purity matches the Queen's Beasts predecessor and is higher than the Britannia's .999. This consistency across The Royal Mint's "beasts" franchise gives both series a fractional purity edge over the flagship Britannia in silver. In jurisdictions where the GST or IRA threshold requires exactly 99.9% purity, the four-nines standard provides a clear margin.

All bullion reverses feature guilloche patterning, a geometric lattice in the background field that serves as a counterfeiting deterrent. This is the same security approach used on the Queen's Beasts from 2018 onward. The four-feature security suite (surface animation, latent image, tincture lines, micro-text) remains exclusive to the Britannia series.

The obverse transitioned from Jody Clark's portrait of Elizabeth II (2022 issues) to Martin Jennings' portrait of King Charles III (2023 onward). This means the series straddles two monarchs, with some collectors seeking matched pairs of both portrait variants for each beast.

Tudor Beasts Tax and Legal Tender Status

Tudor Beasts coins are legal tender of the United Kingdom, carrying the tax advantages that come with that status.

• United Kingdom: CGT exempt on disposal for all metals (gold, silver, platinum). Gold versions are also VAT-free. Silver versions are subject to 20% VAT on purchase. The CGT exemption is the main advantage for UK silver investors. A silver Tudor Beast purchased with 20% VAT that later appreciates significantly pays no tax on the gain, unlike bars or non-UK coins where CGT applies above the annual allowance (currently GBP 3,000).
• United States: Not IRA-eligible. Subject to the 28% federal collectibles CGT rate. No special tax treatment.
• EU: Silver subject to local VAT rates. Margin scheme may apply on secondary market purchases in Germany, Netherlands, and Spain.
• Canada: Silver subject to GST/HST. No specific RRSP eligibility for Royal Mint silver.
• Australia: The .9999 purity exceeds the 99.9% GST-exemption threshold. GST-free as investment-grade precious metal. Capital gains tax applies with a 50% discount for holdings over 12 months.
• Singapore: GST-exempt as Investment Precious Metal at 99.9%+ purity.
• Hong Kong: No sales tax, no import duty, no capital gains tax.
• New Zealand: GST-exempt for silver at 99.9%+ purity.

From Hampton Court Palace to Bullion Coinage

The Hampton Court Palace Moat Bridge originally carried ten heraldic beast statues placed by Henry VIII. The beasts were symbols of royal power and Tudor dynastic legitimacy, each representing a different branch of the family's claim to the English throne. The current statues on the bridge are 20th-century replicas carved by Joseph Cribb in the 1930s, replacing the originals that had deteriorated over four centuries.

The Royal Mint announced the coin series in October 2021, positioning it as the successor to the Queen's Beasts (2016-2021). David Lawrence, an illustrator and sculptor with over 30 years' experience, was commissioned to design all ten reverses. His approach is more dynamic and detailed than Jody Clark's cleaner heraldic style on the Queen's Beasts, reflecting a deliberate aesthetic evolution.

The first coin, the Seymour Panther (associated with Jane Seymour, Henry VIII's third wife), entered bullion sales in 2022. Two designs have been released each year since. The series is notable for straddling the transition between Elizabeth II and King Charles III on the obverse, with the 2022 Seymour Panther and Lion of England bearing Elizabeth's portrait and all subsequent issues featuring Charles III by Martin Jennings.

The Tudor Beasts runs concurrently with The Royal Mint's Britannia series. The Mint positions them differently: the Britannia is the core bullion product with wide international distribution, while the Tudor Beasts targets the collector-investor crossover market with limited production windows, annual design changes, and the heraldic narrative. Limited frosted two-coin silver proof sets (500-1,000 pieces per release) offer a high-premium collector option alongside the bullion coins.

Tudor Beasts vs Queen's Beasts and Perth Mint Coins

The 10 oz Queen's Beasts is the most direct comparison. Both series share .9999 purity, GBP 10 face value, UK CGT exemption, and guilloche security patterning. The key differences are production status (Tudor Beasts is current; Queen's Beasts is complete and secondary-market only), designer (David Lawrence vs Jody Clark), and historical theme (Tudor-era Hampton Court vs 1953 coronation heraldry). For UK buyers who want actively produced 10 oz silver with CGT exemption, the Tudor Beasts is currently the only option.

The 10 oz Kookaburra and 10 oz Perth Lunar from the Perth Mint match the .9999 purity and annual design format, but carry no UK CGT exemption. Their advantages lie elsewhere: the Kookaburra has 35 years of heritage and genuine vintage scarcity; the Lunar's zodiac theme has strong cultural appeal in Asian markets. For non-UK buyers without CGT considerations, these Perth Mint coins offer comparable quality with different collecting angles.

All four compete against 10 oz silver bars, which carry premiums in the 3-6% range versus higher coin premiums. The premium gap is the cost of legal tender status, design collectibility, and sovereign mint provenance. For UK buyers, the additional CGT exemption makes the Tudor Beasts' premium a more justifiable expense than it would be for a non-UK coin that carries higher premiums without the tax benefit.