2 oz Noah's Dove Silver Coin

The 2oz Noah's Dove Silver Coin

The Noah's Dove is coin number 19 in Scottsdale Mint's Biblical Series, released in 2018 as the first of that year's six coins. It contains 2 troy oz of .999 fine silver, struck in high relief with an antique finish on a rimless blank. The absence of a raised border lets the antiqued image run to the edge of the coin, giving it the appearance of an ancient medallion rather than a conventional modern bullion piece. The reverse depicts the scene from Genesis 8:8-11 in which Noah releases a dove from the Ark after the flood, adapted from a wood engraving in Gustave Dore's 1866 illustrated Bible.

The case for this coin over generic 2oz silver coins rests on scarcity and presentation rather than cost. Mintage is capped at 1,499 pieces, each individually numbered with the serial laser-etched on the coin's edge. Most mainstream 2oz bullion coins are produced in far larger quantities; here every piece is uniquely identifiable. Each coin ships in a cardboard gift box styled to resemble a leather-bound Bible, with a Certificate of Authenticity quoting Genesis 8:8-11 in the New Living Translation. APMEX was the exclusive US distributor at the time of release, as noted by Coin World in September 2018.

The coin is legal tender in Niue with a face value of $2 NZD, carrying the Raphael Maklouf effigy of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse. The metal value far exceeds the face value, so the denomination is symbolic, but it confirms the piece is a sovereign-issued coin rather than a private round. Buyers choosing it are typically paying for the limited mintage, the Dore-derived artwork, and the series context, not for the cheapest route into two ounces of silver.

Noah's Dove Specifications

The Noah's Dove follows the common format of the Scottsdale Mint Biblical Series: a 2 troy oz .999 fine silver blank, antique finish, high-relief strike, and a rimless design. The serial number is the distinguishing physical feature, etched onto the plain edge of each coin.

The sculpture work converting Dore's flat engraving into a three-dimensional high-relief design was carried out by D'Almeda Novissimo. At 38.8 mm the coin sits in the same diameter territory as many 2oz silver coins, but the 6.25 mm thickness and antique surface give it a noticeably different feel in hand from a standard brilliant-finish bullion coin.

Noah's Dove Tax Treatment by Country

As a .999 fine silver legal tender coin, the Noah's Dove qualifies as investment-grade silver in most jurisdictions that set a purity threshold, but silver does not enjoy the broad sales tax exemptions that investment gold does.

• UK: Subject to 20% VAT on purchase as new silver bullion. The coin is Niue legal tender, not UK legal tender, so it carries no UK CGT exemption. Pre-owned examples sold under a dealer's VAT margin scheme can avoid the full 20% charge, with VAT applied only to the dealer's margin.
• US: At .999 purity the coin meets the IRS minimum of 99.9% for silver, making it eligible for a self-directed precious metals IRA. Gains on physical silver are taxed as collectibles at a maximum 28% federal rate. State sales tax treatment varies by state.
• Canada: Silver coins refined to 99.9%+ purity that are or were legal tender are GST/HST exempt, which the Noah's Dove satisfies at .999.
• Australia: Investment-grade silver of 99.9%+ purity is GST-free, so the coin qualifies.
• New Zealand: Silver of 99.9%+ purity is GST-exempt, and New Zealand has no capital gains tax. The Niue $2 NZD denomination has no bearing on this; the exemption is purity-based.
• EU: New silver coins attract the full local VAT rate, ranging roughly 17-27% by country. Germany and the Netherlands operate margin schemes for pre-owned or imported silver coins that reduce the effective tax to the dealer's margin.
• Singapore: Silver coins at 99.9%+ purity from accredited refiners with legal tender status are GST-exempt under the Investment Precious Metals scheme, with no capital gains tax.
• Hong Kong: No sales tax, no import duty, no capital gains tax.

Coin 19 of the Scottsdale Mint Biblical Series

The Biblical Series was launched in December 2014, with the first coins dated 2015, and ran for a decade until its completion in 2024 with coin 60. Scottsdale Mint issued six coins per year, each depicting a scene from scripture, and the Noah's Dove arrived in 2018 as the 19th coin and the first of that year's batch of six.

Every design in the series is drawn from the work of Gustave Dore (1832-1883), the French artist whose 241 wood engravings for the 1866 illustrated Bible (La Grande Bible de Tours) made him the defining visual interpreter of the Bible for the 19th century. Scottsdale Mint selected 60 of those engravings for the full series. For this coin, the chosen image is the moment recorded in Genesis 6-8 when a dove returns to Noah carrying an olive branch, signalling that the flood waters had receded and land had reappeared. Sculptor D'Almeda Novissimo translated Dore's flat engraving into a three-dimensional high-relief coin design, a technically demanding conversion that defines the look of the whole series.

The rimless blank is a deliberate stylistic choice. Without a raised border, the antique-finished image appears to bleed off the edge, evoking an ancient medallion rather than a modern coin. Combined with the 1,499-piece mintage, edge-etched serial numbers, and Bible-styled presentation box with a certificate quoting Genesis 8:8-11, the Noah's Dove was positioned from launch as a collectible within a long-running narrative series rather than a volume bullion product. Coin World covered the release in September 2018, noting APMEX as the exclusive US distributor.

Noah's Dove vs Queen's Beasts, Tudor Beasts, and Perth Mint 2oz Coins

The 2oz silver weight class is dominated by large-mintage sovereign bullion series, and the Noah's Dove sits at the opposite end of that market. The Royal Mint made 2oz a mainstream silver bullion weight with the Queen's Beasts series (2016-2021, ten designs in .9999 silver), continued by the Tudor Beasts series from 2023. The Perth Mint produces 2oz silver coins in its Lunar and Koala ranges. These recognised mint products enjoy good liquidity, with dealers actively buying them, and their premiums on a per-ounce basis are broadly comparable to 1oz sovereign coins.

Against those series, the Noah's Dove trades volume for scarcity. Queen's Beasts and Tudor Beasts coins are standard bullion issues; the Noah's Dove is capped at 1,499 numbered pieces, each with a laser-etched edge serial. Its antique high-relief finish on a rimless blank also contrasts with the brilliant bullion finish of the Royal Mint and Perth Mint coins. Purity differs slightly too: the Noah's Dove is .999 fine, while 2oz coins from the Royal Mint and Perth Mint are typically .9999.

On resale, the trade-off cuts both ways. Recognised series like the Queen's Beasts are easy to sell into an active dealer market, and the collectible element of annual-design series coins can add a resale premium above melt depending on the design. A 1,499-mintage coin from a completed 60-coin thematic series appeals to a narrower collector audience: less liquid as bullion, but with a scarcity profile that no high-volume sovereign 2oz coin offers. Buyers wanting silver exposure at the lowest cost in this weight class are better served by mainstream 2oz silver coins; buyers wanting a numbered, limited piece from the Biblical Series are buying something the bullion ranges do not provide.