1 oz The Valiant Silver Coin

The Royal Mint's Four Nines Silver Bullion Coin

The 1 oz Valiant is a .9999 fine silver bullion coin from The Royal Mint, produced between 2018 and 2021. That four nines purity is significant: it made The Valiant one of the very few non-Canadian silver bullion coins to match the standard set by the 1 oz Silver Maple Leaf. The Royal Mint's own 1 oz Silver Britannia is struck at .999, and when the successor "St George and the Dragon" series launched in 2024, it reverted to .999 as well. The Valiant remains the only .9999 silver bullion coin in the Royal Mint's St George lineage.

The design depicts St George slaying the dragon, a motif that traces back to Benedetto Pistrucci's iconic 1817 engraving for the gold Sovereign, though The Valiant used entirely modern reinterpretations rather than Pistrucci's original artwork. The coin was also the first Royal Mint silver bullion issue to use an incuse (recessed) reverse design, with a guilloche background pattern borrowed from banknote anti-counterfeiting techniques on both sides. The result is a tactile, textured surface that distinguishes these coins from the flat-field designs typical of most bullion.

As UK legal tender carrying a face value of £2, The Valiant is exempt from Capital Gains Tax for UK residents, placing it alongside the Britannia and Sovereign for tax-efficient silver investing. The series ran for just four years before being quietly discontinued with no official announcement, making surviving coins a closed set that cannot be expanded by future mintages.

Valiant 1 oz Silver Coin Specifications

The Valiant was also produced in a 10 oz denomination with a £10 face value, 89 mm diameter, 6 mm thickness, and packaging in individual capsules (boxes of 15). Both sizes share the .9999 purity standard.

Security features include the incuse reverse design, which creates a three-dimensional quality that is difficult to replicate in counterfeit production. The guilloche background pattern on both obverse and reverse adds further visual complexity, and frosted design elements on the reverse create contrast against the textured field. The 2024 successor series (St George and the Dragon) later added micro-text security that The Valiant does not have.

Valiant Tax Treatment by Country

The Valiant's status as UK legal tender (£2 face value) gives it meaningful tax advantages in the United Kingdom. In other jurisdictions, it is treated as standard silver bullion.

United Kingdom

Silver bullion in the UK attracts 20% VAT on purchase. Most dealers sell The Valiant under the VAT margin scheme for pre-owned coins, where VAT is charged only on the dealer's profit margin rather than the full price, reducing the effective tax to a few percent. New-condition coins from primary market sales carry the full 20% VAT.

On disposal, The Valiant is exempt from Capital Gains Tax as UK legal tender. This exemption applies regardless of the sale price and is not subject to any threshold. The annual CGT allowance (currently £3,000) is preserved for other investments. For UK investors holding silver long-term with expectations of significant appreciation, the CGT exemption can more than offset the upfront VAT cost, particularly compared to silver bars which carry both VAT on purchase and CGT on sale.

The Valiant also qualifies for SIPP (Self-Invested Personal Pension) inclusion as investment-grade silver bullion.

United States

The Valiant's .9999 purity exceeds the .999 minimum fineness threshold for IRA eligibility, making it acceptable for inclusion in a Precious Metals IRA through an approved custodian. State sales tax treatment varies; approximately 35 states exempt bullion purchases from sales tax, with some states applying thresholds (California over $2,000, Florida over $500, New York over $1,000). Capital gains on silver are taxed at the 28% collectibles rate for assets held longer than one year.

Canada

Silver bullion at 99.9% purity or above is exempt from GST/HST in Canada. The Valiant's .9999 purity comfortably qualifies. Capital gains are taxed at a 50% inclusion rate.

Australia

Investment-grade silver (99.9% purity or above) is GST-free in Australia. The Valiant qualifies. Capital gains are subject to CGT with a 50% discount for assets held longer than 12 months.

Other Jurisdictions

• New Zealand: GST-exempt for silver at 99.9% purity or above. No capital gains tax.
• Singapore: GST-exempt under the Investment Precious Metals (IPM) scheme for qualifying silver coins at 99.9% purity. No capital gains tax.
• Hong Kong: No sales tax, no import duty, no capital gains tax.
• South Africa: Silver bullion subject to 15% VAT. No exemption for non-South African legal tender.
• EU: Silver coins attract VAT at the local standard rate (19% Germany, 21% Netherlands, 25% Sweden, etc.). The German margin scheme (Differenzbesteuerung) may apply to imported or pre-owned coins, reducing effective VAT to the dealer's margin.

Valiant vs Britannia, Maple Leaf, and St George

The most direct comparison for The Valiant is the 1 oz Silver Britannia, The Royal Mint's flagship silver bullion coin. Both are UK legal tender and CGT-exempt, but the Britannia is struck at .999 purity versus the Valiant's .9999. The Britannia also carries more advanced security features (surface animation, micro-text, latent image) that were introduced in the 2021 redesign. The Britannia has unlimited mintage and is actively produced, giving it tighter dealer spreads and greater liquidity. For UK investors prioritising cost-efficient silver accumulation, the Britannia's lower premiums and wider availability make it the practical choice. The Valiant appeals to buyers who value the higher purity and the closed-series collectibility.

Against the 1 oz Silver Maple Leaf, The Valiant matches purity at .9999 but loses on security technology. The Maple Leaf has MintShield anti-tarnish protection and a micro-engraved maple leaf for authentication, features that The Valiant lacks. The Maple Leaf also carries lower premiums in most markets due to its vastly higher production volume. For buyers outside the UK who do not benefit from the CGT exemption, the Maple Leaf is the stronger choice at .9999 purity.

The Valiant's successor, the St George and the Dragon series (launched 2024), uses a different design by Jody Clark and dropped to .999 purity. Buyers seeking the St George motif at the highest silver purity available from The Royal Mint can only get it through The Valiant, which makes these coins a distinct proposition on the secondary market. The successor series does, however, include micro-text security that The Valiant never had.

The 1 oz Austrian Philharmonic typically offers among the lowest premiums for any sovereign silver coin but is struck at .999 and carries no CGT exemption in the UK. For pure cost efficiency without tax considerations, the Philharmonic remains hard to beat, but The Valiant's combination of UK legal tender status and .9999 purity occupies a niche that no other Royal Mint silver coin fills.