1 oz Germania Beasts Silver Coin

Norse Mythology Meets Four-Nines Silver

The 1 oz Germania Beasts is a silver round series from Germania Mint featuring mythological creatures drawn from Germanic and Norse legend. Launched in 2020 with Fafnir the dragon, the series has released three creatures across five years: Fafnir (2020), Fenrir the wolf (2022), and Gullinbursti the golden boar (2025). Each creature embodies a different mythological archetype, from destructive greed to divine craftsmanship.

The series is struck in .9999 fine silver, the same four-nines standard used across Germania Mint's product range. This purity exceeds the .999 norm for private-mint rounds and matches only the 1 oz Canadian Maple Leaf and Perth Mint coins among major bullion producers. The standard 1 oz BU has a mintage of 25,000 per release, tighter than many competing series.

Like all products in the core Germania Mint range, these carry a nominal "5 Mark" denomination that has no legal tender backing. They are rounds, not coins, with the practical tax and IRA consequences that distinction carries. The series competes on design quality, mythological storytelling, and the Geminus concept (matched round pairs with continuous designs) rather than sovereign status or tax advantages.

The continuous obverse-to-reverse design is a hallmark of the Beasts series. Each creature's artwork wraps around the round so that the design flows from one side to the other, creating a unified image across both faces. The Fafnir dragon's head appears on one side with its tail coiled around the Germania Mint double-headed eagle on the reverse, forming an infinity symbol when the round is rotated. This design approach is unusual in the bullion market and gives the series a distinctive visual identity.

Germania Beasts 1 oz Silver Specifications

Series Releases

Premium Variants

Each release is produced in three tiers. The standard 1 oz BU is the bullion-weight product. The Geminus is a set of two matched 1 oz rounds whose designs connect across the pair when placed side by side, forming a single continuous image. The 2 oz Ultra High Relief (UHR) version features deeper striking with more pronounced relief, produced in a 45 mm diameter format with a 10 Mark nominal denomination. Special editions such as the Gold and Black Edition Geminus set for Gullinbursti add further collectible variants.

All variants ship in protective capsules with a Certificate of Authenticity in tamper-evident packaging.

Germania Beasts Tax Treatment by Country

Germania Beasts are private-mint rounds with no legal tender status. The "5 Mark" denomination is nominal and confers no sovereign tax benefits.

United Kingdom

Silver rounds are subject to 20% VAT on purchase. No CGT exemption applies on disposal, as these are not UK legal tender. Capital gains are taxed at the individual's marginal rate (18%/24%), subject to the annual CGT allowance. For UK buyers, the 1 oz Silver Britannia offers CGT exemption that the Germania Beasts cannot match.

United States

Not IRA-eligible. IRA rules require sovereign legal tender coins or bars from IRS-approved refineries. Germania Mint is a private mint, not an approved refiner. Sales tax varies by state, with approximately 35 states exempting bullion. Capital gains are taxed at the collectibles rate of up to 28%.

European Union

Non-legal-tender silver products attract VAT at the standard rate of the buyer's country (19% Germany, 21% Netherlands, 25% Sweden). Germany's margin scheme (Differenzbesteuerung) may apply to pre-owned rounds. Despite the Germanic branding, Germania Mint is not a German institution, and its products do not benefit from any special German tax treatment.

Canada

The .9999 purity exceeds the 99.9% threshold for GST/HST exemption on qualifying precious metals in bar, ingot, coin, or wafer form.

Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong

Silver at 99.9%+ purity qualifies for GST exemption in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. Hong Kong has no sales tax on precious metals. The tax position in these jurisdictions is more favourable than in the UK or EU.

Germania Beasts vs Queen's Beasts and Other Mythological Silver Series

The most direct comparison is with The Royal Mint's Queen's Beasts series (2016-2021), the best-known "beasts" bullion series. The Queen's Beasts are legal tender silver coins (£5 face value) struck in .9999 fine silver by a sovereign mint. They carry CGT exemption in the UK, potential IRA eligibility in the US, and the institutional recognition of The Royal Mint. The series ran for 10 coins plus a completer, building a large collector following.

The Germania Beasts are rounds from a private mint with no sovereign backing. They lose every tax comparison. Their appeal rests on different grounds: the Norse mythological source material (Volsunga Saga, Ragnarok, the crafting legends of Asgard) versus the Queen's Beasts' heraldic/royal theme; the continuous obverse-to-reverse design versus the Queen's Beasts' conventional layout; and the Geminus paired-round concept that has no equivalent in the Queen's Beasts range.

The .9999 purity matches the Queen's Beasts and exceeds the .999 standard of the 1 oz Austrian Silver Philharmonic and many other sovereign coins. The 25,000 mintage per release is lower than most Queen's Beasts issues, though substantially higher than ultra-limited collector pieces.

Against the parent 1 oz Germania series from the same mint, the Beasts series is distinguished by its creature-focused themes and the continuous-design format. Both share the same specifications, purity, and tax treatment. The Beasts series has a slower release cadence (roughly biennial versus annual for the flagship Germania) and a stronger storytelling element rooted in specific mythological narratives.

For collectors drawn to Norse mythology, the Germania Beasts offer something genuinely distinct. For bullion investors prioritising tax efficiency and resale liquidity, sovereign coins from The Royal Mint, Royal Canadian Mint, or Perth Mint provide structural advantages that private-mint rounds cannot replicate.