Tudor Beasts Silver

CGT-Exempt Silver at Four Nines Purity

The Tudor Beasts is a ten-coin series from The Royal Mint, released over five years from 2022 to 2026 as the successor to the Queen's Beasts series. Each coin features one of the heraldic beasts from the King's Beasts stone statues on the Moat Bridge of Hampton Court Palace, originally placed by Henry VIII after acquiring the palace from Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in the 1520s. All ten reverses were designed by David Lawrence, an illustrator and sculptor with over 30 years of experience.

For silver buyers, two characteristics set the Tudor Beasts apart from most competitors. First, the silver bullion versions are struck in .9999 fine silver (four nines), matching the purity of the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf and exceeding the .999 standard of the Silver Britannia. This higher purity is a consistent trait of the Royal Mint's "beasts" franchise, shared with the predecessor Queen's Beasts. Second, as UK legal tender, all Tudor Beasts coins are CGT-exempt for UK residents. This applies across all metals: gold, silver, and platinum.

Silver Tudor Beasts are available in four sizes: the 2 oz coin (the most widely available), the 10 oz coin, and larger formats. The 1 oz gold and 1/4 oz gold coins are the primary gold denominations, while a 1 oz platinum coin extends the series to a third metal.

Tudor Beasts Denominations and Specifications

Silver Bullion (999.9 fine)

Gold Bullion (999.9 fine)

Platinum Bullion (999.5 fine)

All denominations have milled edges. The series includes a guilloche patterned background on all bullion reverses, a geometric lattice pattern that serves as a counterfeiting deterrent. This security feature is distinct from the Britannia's more advanced four-feature suite (latent image, surface animation, micro-text, tincture lines), which remains exclusive to that flagship series.

The Ten Beasts

The series was designed for release over five years with two beasts per year. Collector and proof versions include limited frosted two-coin silver proof sets capped at 500 to 1,000 pieces per release.

Tudor Beasts Tax Treatment by Country

United Kingdom

Tudor Beasts coins in all three metals (gold, silver, platinum) are UK legal tender and therefore CGT-exempt for UK residents. This is particularly significant for silver, where the combination of CGT exemption and the general investment bullion VAT exemption creates a tax profile identical to gold Britannias and Sovereigns. Silver Tudor Beasts are, however, still subject to 20% VAT at purchase, as the VAT exemption applies only to investment gold, not silver or platinum. The CGT exemption applies regardless of the gain realised and regardless of the annual CGT allowance.

For UK buyers considering silver, the CGT exemption is an unusual advantage. Most silver products (bars, rounds, foreign coins) carry both 20% VAT on purchase and CGT liability on sale. Tudor Beasts carry the 20% VAT on purchase but eliminate the CGT on disposal, removing one of the two tax hurdles. The only silver products sharing this CGT exemption are the Britannia, the Valiant (discontinued), and the Queen's Beasts (completed).

United States

Tudor Beasts are not IRA-eligible. They are subject to the standard federal collectibles capital gains rate of 28% for long-term holdings. State sales tax varies; approximately 35 states exempt bullion purchases.

European Union

Gold Tudor Beasts are VAT-exempt under the EU investment gold directive. Silver and platinum versions are subject to the standard VAT rate of the buyer's country (19% in Germany, 20% in France, 21% in Belgium and the Netherlands, up to 27% in Hungary). The margin scheme may apply to pre-owned silver Tudor Beasts in Germany (Differenzbesteuerung), the Netherlands (margeregeling), and Spain (REBU).

Canada, Australia, and New Zealand

In Canada, silver at 99.9%+ purity is GST/HST-exempt. In Australia, silver at 99.9%+ purity is GST-free. In New Zealand, silver at 99.9%+ purity is GST-exempt. Tudor Beasts at .9999 comfortably exceed all three thresholds. No CGT advantages from UK legal tender status apply outside the UK.

Hampton Court's Stone Guardians on Silver and Gold

The Tudor Beasts series draws directly from ten stone statues that have stood on the Moat Bridge at Hampton Court Palace for nearly five centuries. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey began building Hampton Court in 1514, and Henry VIII acquired the palace in 1529. The King placed heraldic beast statues at the entrance, each holding a shield bearing the arms of the Tudor dynasty and its allied families. The current statues are 20th-century replicas carved by Joseph Cribb in the 1930s, as the originals had deteriorated over the centuries.

David Lawrence designed all ten reverse images for the bullion series, reinterpreting the static stone figures for the numismatic format. Each beast holds a shield bearing Tudor heraldic arms. The designs are more dynamic and detailed than the predecessor Queen's Beasts series, which took a cleaner heraldic approach. The Tudor Beasts are explicitly focused on the Tudor era, while the Queen's Beasts traced heraldic ancestry across all dynasties leading to Elizabeth II's coronation.

The series straddles a historic transition. The first coins, the Seymour Panther and Lion of England in 2022, bear Jody Clark's fifth-generation portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. From the Yale of Beaufort and Bull of Clarence in 2023 onward, the obverse features Martin Jennings' portrait of King Charles III. Some collectors seek matched sets of both portrait variants for each beast, adding a collecting dimension beyond the reverse designs.

The Queen's Beasts precedent suggests the Tudor Beasts will conclude with a "Completer Coin" after the tenth design in 2026, featuring all ten beasts on a single coin. This has not been confirmed by the Royal Mint but is widely expected by collectors and dealers. The Royal Mint positions the Tudor Beasts alongside, not replacing, the Britannia: the Britannia serves core bullion demand with its advanced security features and deep liquidity, while the Tudor Beasts target the collector-investor crossover market with their annual design programme and heraldic storytelling.

Tudor Beasts vs Britannia, Queen's Beasts, and Lunar

For UK silver buyers, the Tudor Beasts vs Britannia comparison comes down to purity, security, and collecting interest. Tudor Beasts are .9999 fine silver; the Britannia is .999. Tudor Beasts have guilloche background security; the Britannia has a four-feature anti-counterfeiting suite (latent image, surface animation, micro-text, tincture lines) that is substantially more advanced. Both are CGT-exempt as UK legal tender. The Britannia is the Royal Mint's flagship bullion coin with wider international dealer recognition, tighter premiums, and continuous annual production since 1997. Tudor Beasts offer a collectible annual-design format with a defined end point (ten coins over five years), which appeals to buyers who want to complete a set.

Against the completed Queen's Beasts series (2016-2021), the Tudor Beasts share the same purity (.9999 silver), the same designer's approach to heraldic beasts, and the same CGT exemption. The Queen's Beasts used Jody Clark as designer, with a cleaner heraldic style; the Tudor Beasts use David Lawrence with a more detailed, dynamic approach. The Queen's Beasts' 2 oz silver coin was the primary bullion denomination, while Tudor Beasts introduced a 1 oz silver option (though the 2 oz remains the most widely stocked). With the Queen's Beasts now complete, remaining stock is finite and may command set-completion premiums. Tudor Beasts, nearing the end of their run, may follow the same pattern.

The Royal Mint Lunar series offers a different annual-design format with a 12-year cycle based on the Chinese zodiac. Lunar silver coins are .999 purity (not .9999) and are also CGT-exempt as UK legal tender. The Lunar series appeals to buyers with cultural connections to the Chinese zodiac; Tudor Beasts appeal to those interested in English royal heraldic history.

Outside the Royal Mint range, the Somalia Elephant is the most direct competitor in the annual-design collector-bullion crossover space. The Elephant has no genuine sovereign backing and no CGT exemption, but its annual design changes generate strong secondary market premiums for older vintages. For UK buyers, the Tudor Beasts' CGT advantage is a clear differentiator.