5 Kilo Noah's Ark Silver Coin

Armenia's Giant: The 5 Kilo Noah's Ark Silver Coin

The 5 kilo Noah's Ark is the largest denomination in Armenia's only investment-grade bullion coin programme, issued by the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia since 2011 and struck in Germany by Leipziger Edelmetallverarbeitung (LEV), part of the Geiger Edelmetalle group since 2018. At 149.62mm in diameter and carrying a 20,000 Dram face value, it is one of the largest regularly produced bullion coins by weight anywhere, matched only by a handful of other series. The 5 kg size joined the range in 2012, a year after the launch denominations.

Buyers at this weight are choosing premium efficiency over flexibility. Five kilograms equals 160.75 troy ounces, and large-format silver carries some of the lowest premiums in retail bullion, typically in the 2-4% range over spot for bars of comparable size. The Noah's Ark adds something most large-format silver lacks: sovereign legal tender status. Most 5 kg silver products are private-mint cast bars; this is a coin backed by a central bank, carrying the Armenian coat of arms and Eduard Kurghinyan's consistent ark-and-dove design unchanged since the programme launched.

The trade-off is liquidity. A 5 kg coin is not a standard trading denomination, and selling one means finding a dealer or accumulator willing to take roughly 11 lbs of silver in a single transaction. Stackers who want the Noah's Ark design with easier resale typically hold the 1 oz Noah's Ark silver coin, which saw peak production of 1.66 million pieces in 2021 and trades across 20+ countries. The 5 kilo version suits accumulators building a large position in one purchase, particularly in metric-market Europe where Geiger's distribution is strongest.

5 Kilo Noah's Ark Specifications

The obverse carries the Armenian coat of arms, a shield held by a lion and eagle representing the ancient Bagratid and Rubenid kingdoms, with the face value, fineness, weight, LEV mint mark, and year of issue below, in both Armenian and English. The reverse shows Noah's Ark with a white dove carrying an olive branch, Mount Ararat rising behind under a sunrise. The reeded edge is standard across every denomination in the series.

The 5 kg coin sits at the top of a seven-coin silver range that runs from 1/4 oz through 1/2 oz, 1 oz, 5 oz, 10 oz, and 1 kg sizes, each with its own Dram face value. At nearly 15cm across, it is a dramatically different object from the 38.60mm 1 oz coin, and it ships in individual protective packaging rather than the gas-filled HQC tubes used for the smaller sizes.

Tax Treatment of the 5 Kilo Noah's Ark

Silver does not qualify for the investment gold exemptions that apply in the UK and EU, so a coin of this value attracts meaningful tax in several markets. The .999 fineness does, however, clear the purity thresholds for exemption in most of the zero-tax jurisdictions for silver.

• UK: 20% VAT on new silver. Pre-owned Noah's Ark coins are frequently sold under the margin scheme, where VAT applies only to the dealer's margin, which is one reason the series is widely stocked by UK dealers. As Armenian rather than UK legal tender, it is not CGT-exempt.
• Germany/EU: Full local VAT applies to new silver (19% in Germany). German dealers commonly sell the series under differential taxation (Differenzbesteuerung), the margin scheme that keeps effective tax low; the German manufacturing origin supports a strong dealer network.
• US: No federal sales tax; state treatment varies, with roughly 35 states exempting bullion. A purchase of this size clears the threshold-based exemptions in states such as California ($2,000), New York ($1,000), and Florida ($500).
• Canada: Silver refined to at least 99.9% purity in coin form is GST/HST exempt, so the .999 Noah's Ark qualifies.
• Australia and New Zealand: GST-free as investment-grade silver, which both countries define at 99.9% purity or above for silver.
• Armenia: Exempt from VAT as domestic legal tender.

5 Kilo Noah's Ark vs Large-Format Silver Bars

The direct alternative at this weight is the Geiger Edelmetalle 5 kg cast silver bar, the most prominent product in the 5 kg class and made by the same group that strikes the Noah's Ark. The bar is the pure premium play: cast format, minimal fabrication cost, and premiums at the bottom of the retail range. The coin answers with legal tender status, a recognised sovereign design, and collector appeal that a cast bar cannot match. Both face the same structural reality that 5 kg is not a standard trading size, so buyback spreads can run wider than for mainstream formats regardless of which you choose.

North American buyers should weigh the 100 oz bar (3.11 kg) instead. It is the standard large-format size in troy-denominated markets, more widely stocked, and easier to resell in the US and Canada, at per-ounce premiums similar to the 5 kg class. The 5 kg format makes more sense for European and metric-market buyers, where Geiger's home-territory distribution is strongest and metric weights are the recognised convention.

Within the series itself, the 1 kilo Noah's Ark silver coin splits the difference: still a low-premium large format at 100mm diameter, but a fifth of the capital commitment and easier to move on resale. Stackers who value divisibility over the lowest possible premium generally do better stacking kilos or ounces than committing to a single 160.75 oz coin.