2022 Tudor Beasts Seymour Panther Five Ounce Gold Proof Coin

Building on the success of the Queen's Beasts, the Seymour Panther is the first release in a new series called the Tudor Beasts and is here offered on a stunning Five Ounce gold proof coin.

The King's Tudor Beasts

The ten-coin Queen's Beasts series wrapped up in 2021 with a completer coin featuring all the mythological creatures that starred on the sought-after earlier issues. The Royal Mint has now unleashed a new collection of creatures, created in collaboration with Historic Royal Palaces.

The King's Tudor Beasts are inspired by a series of heraldic statues at Hampton Court Palace that represent the lineage of Henry VIII and his third queen, Jane Seymour. They are symbols of the strength of the Tudor dynasty and, as subjects for coinage, are a clever means of celebrating a fascinating period of British history.

The Hampton Court statues include heraldic supporters that would feature on the Queen's Beasts coins but there are significant differences. Now we've seen the first coin in the series - the Seymour Panther - we know that the Tudor-inspired designs will distinguish this exciting series.

You can read more about the connection between the Queen’s Beasts and the King’s Beasts in a recent blog post: The Tudor Beasts: Seymour Panther Opens New Royal Mint Series.

The Seymour Panther

The fire-breathing beast that kicks off the Tudor Beasts series is the Seymour Panther, a symbol adopted by Jane Seymour on her marriage. Depicted as a spotted big cat, the fearsome Panther was reportedly chosen for Jane as it made an easy replacement for her predecessor, Anne Boleyn's leopards which adorned royal palaces before her execution.

David Lawrence is the artist behind this beast and the rest of the creatures in the collection. His depiction makes a fantastic creature look remarkably lifelike and shows the panther clutching a version of the Seymour coat of arms: two birds wings 'conjoined in lure'.

Speaking about his design for the coin's reverse, Lawrence said:

'The Tudors would draw beasts that they had never before seen, basing their interpretations off reports or word-of-mouth. Therefore, these beasts are roughly 70% fictionalised. My aim was to take inspiration from these Tudor-carved beasts and modernise them, without losing their historical or heraldic importance.'

Specifications and Availability

The 2022 Tudor Beasts Seymour Panther 5 Ounce Gold Proof is part of a significant range of different metals and denominations offered by The Royal Mint. We're also stocking the Panther in silver proof and hear that bullion brilliant uncirculated versions will join the collection in 2022.

The Five Ounce gold coin measures 50.00 millimetres and is struck in 156.30 grams of .9999 gold. It has a face value of Five Hundred Pounds and is offered in its original packaging with a numbered certificate of authenticity.

Only 125 of these 5 oz gold Seymour Panther coins have been offered and they are already being snapped up quick. If you want to start your collection of Tudor Beasts then we would advise moving fast to secure this piece which will inevitably become hard to find as the series continues.