Superb Queens Beasts gold and silver bullion coins back for 2017 with the Griffin

For us, the best designed bullion coin of last year was the surprise debut of the first in a new series called Queens Beasts from the Royal Mint. Designed by Jody Clark, rising star at the mint and in my view the best classical coin designer working today, the coin design was the epitome of ‘Britishness’ and left us all wanting to see the next one. Like the American Eagle and the Canadian Maple Leaf, there’s no mistaking where this coin comes from.

Well the next one has broken cover earlier than it should have done and as we expected, its a beauty. The second of ten coins, the series is themed after the ten heraldic beasts present at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The beasts were the lion of England, the griffin of Edward III, the falcon of the Plantagenets, the black bull of Clarence, the yale of Beaufort, the white lion of Mortimer, the White Greyhound of Richmond, the red dragon of Wales, the unicorn of Scotland, and the white horse of Hanover. This one is the Griffin of Edward III, the English monarch that died in 1377 after the second longest reign in medieval England, and one that left his country a serious European power.

We’ll have a further post later in the week with some higher resolution images, but in the meantime you can see what a terrific design this is. As before there are a one-ounce 0.9999 gold coin and a two-ounce 0.9999 silver coin, we’ve yet to recieve notice on the quarter-ounce from last year, although it would surprise us if this popular format wasn’t made available. The first coin suffered from a greater than average premium and we’re hoping that now the novelty has worn off we may see a those recede a little, although lets be realistic, you’re not getting these for Philharmonic premiums. Brilliant coin.

SPECIFICATION

NAME 2017 GRIFFIN GOLD 2017 GRIFFIN SILVER
DENOMINATION £100 UKP £5 UKP
COMPOSITION 0.9999 gold 0.9999 silver
WEIGHT 31.1 grams 62.2 grams
DIAMETER 32.69 mm 38.61 mm
FINISH B/Unc B/Unc
MODIFICATIONS None None
MINTAGE TBC TBC
BOX / COA No / No No / No
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