After a millenium, the Royal Mint gets into the platinum bullion market with coin and bars

After dabbling with proof platinum coins for a while now, the Royal Mint has jumped full on into the platinum bullion market with a new range of bars and the first of its finest bullion coin range to appear in the metal. Less an outright financial metal than silver and particularly gold, platinum has nevertheless been of interest in the numismatic world for some time. Many of the big bullion coins are sporadically available in platinum like the American Eagle, Canadian Maple Leaf and most recently, the Austrian Philharmonic.

Released in conjunction with WPIC described in the mints press release; “The World Platinum Investment Council Ltd. (WPIC) is a global market authority on physical platinum investment, formed to meet the growing investor demand for objective and reliable platinum market intelligence. WPIC’s mission is to stimulate global investor demand for physical platinum through both actionable insights and targeted product development. WPIC was created in 2014 by the six leading platinum producers in South Africa: Anglo American Platinum Ltd, Aquarius Platinum Ltd, Impala Platinum Ltd, Lonmin plc, Northam Platinum Ltd and Royal Bafokeng Platinum Ltd. The World Platinum Investment Council is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to give investment advice.”

The bars are unremarkable, just stamped with the RMR logo, weight and composition on one side and a repeating diagonal pattern of the letters ‘RMR’ on the other. Available in 1 kilo, ½ kilo, 100 grams and 1 ounce (31.1 grams), these are pretty much a store of wealth and nothing more, exactly as they were designed to be. They can be bought and stored at the Royal Mints MoD protected facility dubbed ‘The Vault’.

Of more interest to our readers is a one-ounce platinum version of the beautiful ‘Queen’s Beasts Lion of England’ coin that proved very popular and widely admired when it debuted last year in gold and silver. A logical choice given how attractive and in demand they are, the design apes that of its earlier sibling very closely, with just the expected changes to the composition and denomination inscriptions. There don’t appear to be any mintage limits on them, but like all platinum bullion coins, the demand will inevitably be lighter than the two more traditional metals. The coin should be available in the next few weeks and we don’t doubt that unless nobody buys them, the whole QB range will follow.

2017 QUEENS BEAST LION PLATINUM BULLION COIN

PRESS RELEASE: The Royal Mint has timed its first entry into the platinum bullion market to coincide with London Platinum Week. The first of a range of bullion platinum coins and bars will be launched on Monday 15 May via bullion trading platform www.royalmintbullion.com, and will be the first investment-grade platinum to be retailed by the 1,000 year-old organisation. A strategic partnership with The World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) to deliver the physical platinum products was announced in December 2016.

Monday will see the launch of The Royal Mint’s 500g and Kilo platinum bars on the platform, which will be followed in the next few weeks by a 100g and 1oz platinum bar, and a 1oz ‘Queen’s Beasts Lion of England’ coin – the first platinum coin to be launched in the popular heraldic series.

Chris Howard, The Royal Mint’s Director of Bullion, said, “This is a new and exciting marketplace for us, and we look forward to working with the WPIC to expand the range of trusted Royal Mint Bullion products available to investors. The introduction of platinum to our portfolio is the next logical step for The Royal Mint and increases the choice available to our customers, supporting our ambition to be recognised as the home of the ‘complete bullion solution’.”

David Crawford, Program Manager at the World Platinum Investment Council, said:The Royal Mint is one of the world’s oldest and foremost authorities and issuers of bullion coins and bars, and we are honoured to be working with them. The partnership is the latest in a series of strategic initiatives from the WPIC to stimulate further investor demand for physical platinum, and increase the number and type of platinum investment opportunities available worldwide.”

The Royal Mint – the world’s leading export mint, has been producing precious metal coinage since the 9th Century, and throughout this time has continued to strike coins in gold and silver. With the launch of bullion trading site www.royalmintbullion.com in 2014 The Royal Mint became the first mint to offer bullion coins and bars direct to individuals on a 24/7 basis, dispatched to the customer or stored on their behalf in The Royal Mint’s vault – The Vault™.

THE ROYAL MINTS PLATINUM BAR RANGE

Four sizes of platinum bar will be made available. On 15 May the Royal Mint will launch kilo (1000 gram) and half kilo (500 gram) bars, followed a few weeks later by two smaller sizes, 100 grams and a troy ounce (31.1 grams). The bars are heavily branded for the Royal Mint Refinery.

The back of each bar carries the same RMR repeating logo running at 45 degrees to the horizontal. The front carries the Royal Mint Refinery symbol, the weight and the composition ‘999.5 PLATINUM’. A very workmanlike design, these are clearly produced primarily for the serious stacker. At the time of writing the spot price for a kilo of platinum is just shy of $30,000 USD. It will be interesting to see what level of premium the Royal Mint places on these bars.

SPECIFICATION

NAME 2017 PLATINUM QUEENS BEAST
DENOMINATION £100 UKP
COMPOSITION 0.9995 Platinum
WEIGHT 31.103 grams
DIAMETER 32.69 mm
FINISH Brilliant uncirculated
MODIFICATIONS None
MINTAGE 5,000
TUBES / BOX 10 / 100