Coronation Silver

The Silver Coronation Coin from The Royal Mint

The Coronation coin was struck by The Royal Mint in 2023 to mark the crowning of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey on 6 May 2023, the first British coronation in 70 years. This is a one-time commemorative issue, not an annual series, and the silver version was produced with a mintage of just 150,000 pieces in .999 fine silver.

For buyers weighing this against the standard Silver Britannia, the Coronation coin shares the same weight and purity but carries a significantly lower mintage. The standard Britannia is produced without a fixed cap each year, making the Coronation coin scarcer on the secondary market. That scarcity comes with a trade-off: premiums are higher, and resale liquidity is narrower than for the annually produced Britannia.

The obverse features Martin Jennings' crowned portrait of Charles III. This is the first crowned effigy to appear on UK coinage since Elizabeth II's portrait was changed to an uncrowned design in 1968. The reverse displays the royal cypher (C III R) designed by John Bergdahl, surrounded by a laurel wreath. A separate "Coronation Britannia" was also issued with the standard Philip Nathan Britannia reverse and a special edge inscription, but that is a distinct product from this cypher-reverse coin.

As UK legal tender carrying a face value of £2, the silver Coronation coin qualifies for Capital Gains Tax exemption in the United Kingdom. This puts it in the same CGT-free category as the Britannia and the gold Sovereign, a meaningful benefit for UK-based stackers planning to hold long-term and sell above the annual CGT allowance.

Coronation Silver Coin Specifications

The Royal Mint also issued a separate Coronation Britannia in 1 oz silver with a mintage of only 4,000 pieces. That version uses the standard Britannia reverse but adds a special edge inscription commemorating the coronation. The Coronation Britannia is a collector product with substantially higher premiums than the 150,000-mintage cypher coin listed here.

In gold, the Coronation was struck as a 1 oz coin (7,500 mintage, .9999 fine, £100 face value) and a 1/10 oz coin (53,000 mintage, .9999 fine, £10 face value). The 1 oz gold version is one of the lowest-mintage Royal Mint bullion gold coins in recent years.

Coronation Coin Tax Treatment by Country

The silver Coronation coin is UK legal tender, which provides specific tax advantages in the United Kingdom that do not extend to most other silver bullion products.

• United Kingdom: As UK legal tender, the Coronation coin is exempt from Capital Gains Tax on disposal. Silver bullion in the UK is subject to 20% VAT on purchase. When bought new from The Royal Mint, silver coins may be sold under specific arrangements, but on the secondary market the margin scheme (VAT charged only on the dealer's profit margin rather than the full price) applies to pre-owned pieces. The CGT exemption is the primary tax advantage here, shared with the Silver Britannia but not available on silver bars or non-UK coins.
• United States: The Coronation coin is not on standard IRA-approved lists as it is a foreign commemorative issue. Standard US sales tax rules for precious metals apply, with exemptions in approximately 35 states. Federal capital gains on silver are taxed at the collectibles rate of up to 28%.
• Canada: Silver at .999 purity in coin form is generally GST/HST-exempt. No RRSP eligibility has been confirmed for this issue.
• Australia: Silver at .999 purity in coin form meets the investment-grade definition for GST exemption. Subject to CGT with a 50% discount for holdings over 12 months.
• European Union: Silver coins are subject to local VAT rates (17% to 27% depending on country). Some countries offer margin scheme pricing on pre-owned coins. Gold investment coins are VAT-exempt under the EU Investment Gold Directive, but this does not cover silver.
• New Zealand: Silver coins at .999 purity that are legal tender qualify for GST exemption. The Coronation coin meets both criteria.
• Singapore: Silver coins at .999 purity that are or were legal tender qualify as Investment Precious Metals and are exempt from the 9% GST.
• Hong Kong: No sales tax, no import duty, and no capital gains tax on bullion of any kind.

The First Coronation Coinage in Seventy Years

Charles III was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 6 May 2023, in the first coronation ceremony conducted in Britain since Elizabeth II's in 1953. The Royal Mint marked the occasion with a suite of commemorative bullion coins that represented a deliberate departure from standard practice: the obverse carries a crowned portrait of the King, something not seen on British coinage since 1968 when Elizabeth II's effigy was updated to the uncrowned Arnold Machin design.

Sculptor Martin Jennings, who had already created the standard uncrowned portrait of Charles III used on circulating and bullion coinage from 2022, produced the crowned variant specifically for this commemorative issue. The design choice underscored the ceremonial significance of the event. Most modern British coins, including the annual Britannia bullion range, use the uncrowned portrait.

The reverse was designed by John Bergdahl and features the King's royal cypher: the letters C and R flanking the Roman numeral III at the centre, topped with a crown and encircled by laurel wreaths. This cypher design appears nowhere else in The Royal Mint's bullion range, making the Coronation coin visually distinctive from the standard Britannia series.

The Royal Mint also issued a "Coronation Britannia" alongside the cypher coin. This variant paired the standard Philip Nathan Britannia reverse with the crowned obverse and added a unique edge inscription commemorating the coronation. The Coronation Britannia was produced in far smaller numbers (4,000 silver, 10,000 gold) and commands substantially higher premiums as a result.

The 2023 Coronation bullion coins were a single-event release. Future Charles III bullion coinage from The Royal Mint will use the standard uncrowned portrait. This makes the crowned portrait a genuinely one-time feature in the modern bullion market, and the 150,000 silver mintage low enough to generate collector interest while remaining accessible to bullion buyers.

Coronation vs Britannia and Other Royal Mint Silver

The most direct comparison for the Coronation coin is the standard Silver Britannia, since both are 1 oz, .999 fine silver coins from The Royal Mint carrying UK legal tender status and CGT exemption. The critical difference is mintage: the Britannia is produced annually without a fixed cap, while the Coronation was a one-time issue of 150,000 pieces. Buyers prioritising liquidity and the tightest possible premiums will prefer the Britannia. Buyers who value scarcity and the commemorative angle may find the Coronation more appealing, accepting slightly wider spreads in exchange.

The Royal Canadian Mint also issued Charles III coronation coins in 2023. The RCM versions use .9999 fine silver (one nine higher than the Royal Mint's .999), but the Royal Mint's Coronation coin carries the distinction of being struck by the monarch's own national mint. For Canadian buyers, the RCM version has the practical advantage of GST/HST-exempt status as a Canadian legal tender coin, while the UK coin's tax treatment depends on the buyer's jurisdiction.

Against the Royal Mint's earlier commemorative silver series, the Queen's Beasts (2016-2021) is the closest comparison. That was a 10-coin series issued over multiple years, each with a different heraldic beast design. Individual Queen's Beasts coins had similar mintage levels to the Coronation, but the series format created ongoing collector demand across a longer period. The Coronation, as a single design with no planned follow-ups, has a different appeal: its scarcity is defined by the one-time nature of the event itself.

For stackers building a position in silver bullion at the lowest possible premium per ounce, the Coronation coin is not the most efficient choice. The Silver Philharmonic from the Austrian Mint consistently trades at lower premiums than most sovereign silver coins, and generic silver bars from LBMA-accredited refiners offer lower premiums still. The Coronation coin's value proposition is specific: it is a low-mintage, CGT-exempt piece of genuine historical commemorative coinage from the world's oldest operating mint.