1 oz Prehistoric Beast Silver Coin

Ultra-High Relief Smartminting from CIT Coin Invest

The Prehistoric Beast series is a premium silver coin programme produced by CIT Coin Invest AG (Liechtenstein), struck at B.H. Mayer's Kunstprageanstalt in Munich, Germany, and issued as legal tender of Mongolia. The series launched in 2018 featuring prehistoric creatures rendered using CIT's proprietary Smartminting technology, which enables ultra-high relief striking on standard-thickness planchets, creating dramatic three-dimensional effects that conventional minting cannot achieve.

The standard format across the series is 3 troy ounces of .9999 fine silver at 65 mm diameter, with a face value of 2,000 Togrog. However, the product group here covers the 1 oz .9999 fine variant. Each release features a distinctive "Red Rock Finish" that gives the coin surface the texture and colour of sandstone, evoking the fossil-bearing rock of the Mongolian Gobi Desert where many of the depicted species were first discovered.

These are firmly collector coins rather than bullion-weight investments. Very low mintages (499-999 pieces per release) and pricing at 5-10 times silver melt value place them in the numismatic art category. Buyers are paying primarily for the Smartminting relief technology, artistic merit, and scarcity rather than silver content. The series appeals to collectors who appreciate the intersection of palaeontology and minting technology, or who want visually spectacular silver pieces for display.

Prehistoric Beast Series Specifications

Known Releases (3 oz format)

Smartminting Technology

Smartminting uses higher striking pressure and modified die geometry to achieve relief depths of up to 2 mm on a standard-thickness planchet. Traditional high-relief coins require thicker blanks to accommodate the raised design, increasing metal content and cost. CIT's process achieves comparable or greater three-dimensional depth without the extra material, though at the cost of specialised tooling and lower production speeds.

The 65 mm diameter of the 3 oz format (substantially larger than the standard 38-40 mm bullion coin) provides a larger canvas for the high-relief prehistoric artwork. The Red Rock Finish is a post-strike surface treatment that applies colour and texture, giving each coin the appearance of red sandstone.

Tax Treatment for Mongolian Legal Tender Silver

The 2,000 Togrog face value establishes these coins as legal tender of Mongolia (approximately USD $0.55). The Mongolian Togrog is one of the most common currencies used for numismatic-only coin issues globally, alongside Palau, Niue, and the Cook Islands.

By Country

• United Kingdom: Subject to 20% VAT as silver. Not eligible for CGT exemption (UK legal tender only). The collector premium means VAT is charged on the full retail price, not just the silver content, making the tax impact in absolute terms significantly larger than on a standard bullion coin.
• United States: The .9999 purity exceeds IRA requirements (99.9% for silver), though the extreme collector premium over melt may cause custodians to classify these as collectibles rather than bullion, potentially affecting IRA eligibility. State sales tax varies; many states exempt precious metals regardless of premium level. Capital gains taxed at the 28% collectibles rate.
• Canada: GST/HST exempt at .9999 purity (exceeds 99.9% threshold), assuming classification as a precious metal product rather than a collectible.
• Australia: The collector nature and extreme premium may complicate GST-free classification. Investment-grade exemption assumes the product is traded primarily for metal content; coins at 5-10x melt may not qualify.
• Singapore: Similar to Australia, the extreme premium-to-melt ratio may affect IPM classification despite the purity exceeding 99.9%.
• Hong Kong: No sales tax of any kind, making it the most tax-efficient jurisdiction for acquiring high-premium collector coins.
• EU: Standard silver VAT rates apply (19-27%). Available primarily through European coin dealers (German-market specialists like EMK.com and Power Coin).

Mongolian Fossils Rendered in Swiss-German Precision

Mongolia was chosen as the issuing country partly because of the Gobi Desert's extraordinary palaeontological significance. More dinosaur species were first described from Mongolian fossils than from almost any other single country. The series consciously connects this paleontological heritage to numismatic art.

The inaugural 2018 release depicted Velociraptor mongoliensis in the attack posture known from the famous "Fighting Dinosaurs" fossil, discovered in the Gobi Desert in 1971. That fossil, showing a Velociraptor locked in mortal combat with a Protoceratops, is considered one of the most important dinosaur discoveries ever made. The second coin (2019) depicted Protoceratops andrewsi, the Velociraptor's opponent in that iconic specimen, completing the paleontological narrative across two releases.

The 2020 release broke from the Mongolian terrestrial fossil theme with Plesiosauria, a marine reptile. This departure broadened the series' scope from strictly Mongolian species to prehistoric creatures generally, while the mintage dropped from 999 to 499 pieces. B.H. Mayer's Kunstprageanstalt, the striking mint founded in Pforzheim, Germany in 1871, is one of Europe's oldest private mints and specialises in technically demanding numismatic production.

CIT Coin Invest AG, based in Balzers, Liechtenstein, is the market leader in ultra-high-relief numismatic coins. Their Smartminting technology is used across multiple series (including the popular Tiffany Art and Kilo series) and is not available to other mints. The Prehistoric Beast series showcases this proprietary capability at its most dramatic, with relief depths and textural complexity that simply cannot be achieved through conventional striking processes.

Prehistoric Beast vs Other Dinosaur and High-Relief Silver

The Prehistoric Beast occupies a very specific niche: ultra-high-relief, low-mintage, paleontological art coins. Comparisons should distinguish between buyers seeking dinosaur-themed silver and those seeking technical minting excellence.

The Perth Mint's Australian Dinosaur series offers prehistoric subjects at higher mintages and substantially lower premiums. These are struck in standard relief with conventional techniques, making them accessible bullion-grade products that happen to feature dinosaurs. For buyers who want dinosaur imagery on their silver without paying collector premiums, Perth Mint is the practical alternative.

The Royal Canadian Mint's dinosaur coins (including their glow-in-the-dark series) occupy a similar collector niche but at smaller formats and lower price points. They demonstrate technical innovation (luminescent ink, colour) rather than relief depth, representing a different approach to blending numismatic artistry with precious metal content.

Germania Mint's Megafauna series features Ice Age mammals (woolly mammoth, cave bear) rather than dinosaurs, but targets a similar collector demographic. The mintages and pricing are comparable. The choice between the two comes down to subject preference (dinosaurs vs mammals) and finish preference (Red Rock vs more conventional proof-like surfaces).

For buyers whose primary interest is silver weight accumulation, the Prehistoric Beast's 5-10x premium over melt makes it an impractical bullion choice. Standard coins like the 1 oz Silver Maple Leaf or the 1 oz Silver Britannia deliver the same silver content at a fraction of the cost. The Prehistoric Beast is for collectors who value artistic and technical merit; the premium should be treated as an art purchase, not a silver investment.