10 oz Queen's Beasts Silver Coin

The 10 oz Queen's Beasts Silver Coin

The 10 oz Queen's Beasts is a large-format silver coin from The Royal Mint's heraldic series celebrating the ten beasts represented as stone statues at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. Struck in .9999 fine silver with a GBP 10 face value, the series ran from 2016 to 2021 and is now complete. All ten designs plus the Completer Coin have been issued, and available supply is limited to the secondary market.

The Queen's Beasts was designed entirely by Jody Clark, the Royal Mint engraver who also created the fifth definitive coinage portrait of the Queen. Each reverse depicts a stylised heraldic beast holding a shield bearing the royal arms or dynastic badge it represents, tracing Elizabeth II's ancestry through centuries of British heraldry. From the Lion of England (Richard I) to the White Greyhound of Richmond (Henry VII), the ten beasts span the full sweep of royal lineage.

For UK buyers, the critical advantage is tax treatment. As UK legal tender, all Queen's Beasts coins are exempt from Capital Gains Tax on disposal. This makes the 10 oz Queen's Beasts one of the few large-format silver coins that offers CGT exemption, a benefit that becomes more valuable as the holding appreciates. The successor series, the 10 oz Tudor Beasts, carries the same exemption for buyers who prefer an actively produced coin.

Queen's Beasts 10 oz Silver Coin Specifications

The .9999 purity is a notable feature. The Britannia, The Royal Mint's flagship silver coin, is struck at .999 fine. The Queen's Beasts (and its successor, the Tudor Beasts) use the higher four-nines standard, giving them a fractional purity advantage that matters in jurisdictions where the GST/IRA threshold is exactly 99.9%.

Guilloche patterning was added to the bullion versions from 2018 onward, providing a geometric background pattern that serves as both an aesthetic feature and a counterfeiting deterrent. The Queen's Beasts does not carry the four-feature security suite (surface animation, latent image, tincture lines, micro-text) that is exclusive to the Britannia series from 2021.

All ten coins bear the Jody Clark portrait of Elizabeth II on the obverse. The series concluded before the transition to King Charles III, making all issues consistent in their portrait.

Queen's Beasts Tax and Legal Tender Status

The Queen's Beasts coins are legal tender of the United Kingdom. This status drives their most important tax characteristic for UK buyers.

• United Kingdom: CGT exempt on disposal. Gold versions are also VAT-free as investment gold. Silver versions (including the 10 oz) are subject to 20% VAT on purchase. The CGT exemption applies to all metals in the series (gold, silver, and platinum) because it derives from legal tender status, not metal type. For silver specifically, the combination of 20% VAT on purchase and zero CGT on sale creates a break-even calculation: the CGT saving only outweighs the initial VAT on positions with large or long-term gains.
• United States: Not IRA-eligible (not a US Mint product or specifically approved foreign coin under Section 408(m)). Treated as collectibles for capital gains purposes at the 28% federal rate. No special exemption.
• EU: Silver subject to local VAT rates. Margin scheme taxation may apply on secondary market coins in Germany, Netherlands, and Spain, reducing effective VAT to the dealer's margin.
• Canada: Silver subject to GST/HST. No specific RRSP eligibility.
• Australia: The .9999 purity exceeds the 99.9% GST-exemption threshold for silver. GST-free as investment-grade precious metal. Subject to capital gains tax with 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.

The Coronation Beasts on Coinage

The ten beasts on these coins derive from the six-foot plaster statues that lined the entrance to Westminster Abbey at Elizabeth II's coronation on 2 June 1953. The original statues were sculpted by James Woodford RA, a distinguished British sculptor known for his architectural and commemorative work. After the coronation, the statues were dispersed: some went to Kew Gardens, others to the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa.

The Royal Mint began the coin series in March 2016 with the Lion of England, the most senior of the heraldic beasts and a symbol of English royalty traceable to Richard I. Two designs were released per year from 2017 onward, with the series culminating in the Completer Coin in April 2021, which featured all ten beasts arranged around a central shield.

Each beast represents a branch of Elizabeth II's royal lineage. The Griffin of Edward III (personal badge of Edward III), the Red Dragon of Wales (brought to the throne by Henry VII's Welsh heritage), the Black Bull of Clarence (adopted by Edward IV), the Unicorn of Scotland (James I/VI's union of the crowns), the Yale of Beaufort (Lady Margaret Beaufort, Henry VII's mother), the Falcon of the Plantagenets (House of York), the White Lion of Mortimer (Mortimer family, House of York), the White Horse of Hanover (George I's accession), and the White Greyhound of Richmond (Henry VII) complete the set.

The 2 oz silver format was a deliberate choice by The Royal Mint to differentiate the series from the 1 oz Britannia. It was the first-ever 2 oz UK silver bullion coin and established a stacking format of ten-coin tubes that became popular among collectors. The 10 oz denomination provided a large-format alternative for buyers wanting fewer, higher-value coins.

Since the series ended in 2021, secondary market premiums have risen, particularly for early releases like the Lion of England. The fixed supply and complete ten-coin structure create a collector dynamic that ongoing series do not have.

Queen's Beasts vs Tudor Beasts and Perth Mint Alternatives

The most direct comparison is with the 10 oz Tudor Beasts, the official successor series from The Royal Mint (2022-2026). Both carry .9999 silver purity, GBP 10 face value, UK CGT exemption, and guilloche security patterning. The Tudor Beasts is currently in production, meaning fresh supply at standard premiums is available. The Queen's Beasts is secondary-market only, which can mean either higher premiums (for sought-after designs) or lower prices (for common later releases, depending on market conditions). David Lawrence designed the Tudor Beasts reverses, replacing Jody Clark.

The 10 oz Kookaburra from the Perth Mint offers the same .9999 purity and annual design changes, but without UK CGT exemption or legal tender status outside Australia. The Kookaburra's advantage is longevity: the series has been running since 1990, creating a deep secondary market with genuine vintage scarcity. For non-UK buyers who do not benefit from CGT exemption, the Kookaburra and 10 oz Perth Lunar are strong alternatives with different thematic appeal.

Against 10 oz silver bars, all four coins carry higher premiums. The coin premium buys legal tender status, sovereign mint provenance, and in the case of the Queen's Beasts, UK CGT exemption. For pure cost-per-ounce optimisation, bars are cheaper. For tax-efficient UK stacking with collector upside, the Queen's Beasts series occupies a distinctive position.