British bullion · 8 min read
The Britannia coin: a complete history
Britannia, the helmeted female figure who personifies the nation, has appeared on British money since Roman times and on the copper coinage for centuries. But the modern Britannia bullion coin is a far more recent creation, born in 1987 to give Britain a gold coin to stand alongside the world's great bullion pieces. In a single generation it has become one of the most recognisable coins the Royal Mint produces.
Why Britannia, and why 1987
By the 1980s the international gold market belonged to a handful of one-ounce bullion coins: South Africa's Krugerrand, the Canadian Gold Maple Leaf and, soon after, the American Gold Eagle. Britain had the sovereign, but no modern one-ounce bullion coin to compete. The Royal Mint set out to create one, and reached for the most enduring symbol of the nation. Britannia, the Roman name for Great Britain personified as a seated or standing female warrior, had graced British coinage for generations and was instantly recognisable. The first Gold Britannia was struck in 1987 with a face value of £100, aimed squarely at the global investment market.
Philip Nathan's design
The reverse was designed by the sculptor Philip Nathan, who depicted Britannia standing, windswept, a trident in one hand and an olive branch and Union Flag shield in the other, looking out to sea. The pose drew on the older florin, or two-shilling coin, but Nathan gave it a fresh sense of movement, the wind catching Britannia's hair and gown. His standing Britannia has become the signature design of the series and returns again and again, though the Mint has commissioned many variant designs over the years, including seated poses, a charioted Britannia, a helmeted profile and Britannia with the Union Flag. The obverse has carried the reigning monarch's portrait throughout, updated as the official effigy changed.
The gold Britannia and its changing alloy
The first gold Britannias were struck in 22 carat gold, the same crown gold standard as the sovereign, for durability. There is a subtle twist of history here: when launched in 1987 the coin was alloyed with copper, giving it a warm, reddish tone. In 1990 the Mint kept the 22 carat purity but switched the alloying metal to silver, producing a yellower gold. The bigger change came in 2013, when the Royal Mint raised the gold Britannia to 24 carat, a fineness of 999.9, bringing it into line with the purest bullion coins from the United States and Canada. The range was launched in 1 oz, 1/2 oz, 1/4 oz and 1/10 oz weights, with 5 oz and 1/20 oz options added in 2013.
The silver Britannia
The silver Britannia followed a decade after the gold, launching in 1997, the first year available only as a proof. It was struck in Britannia silver, an alloy of 958 fineness with a long pedigree in British silverware. As with the gold coin, 2013 brought a change to purer metal: from that year the silver Britannia has been struck in 999 fine silver. That change carried a consequence collectors should know about, because it altered the coin's size. From 1997 to 2012 the one-ounce silver Britannia measured 40 mm across; from 2013 onward it measures 38.61 mm. Both contain exactly one troy ounce of silver, but the difference in diameter matters when choosing a capsule.
A growing family
The Britannia has expanded well beyond its original two metals. Platinum Britannias joined the range, and the Mint has issued the design across a wide spread of fractional and larger sizes, from tiny 1/20 oz and 1/40 oz gold pieces up to substantial 5 oz coins. In recent years the Mint has also added sophisticated anti-counterfeiting security features to the bullion coins, micro-text, latent images and a surface animation effect, making the Britannia one of the most secure bullion coins available. Like all the Mint's modern coins, Britannias are struck at Llantrisant in South Wales.
Collecting and storing Britannias
The Britannia appeals to two audiences at once. Investors value the one-ounce gold and silver coins for their purity, liquidity and the Royal Mint's reputation; for UK residents, Britannias also carry a particular tax advantage as legal tender sterling coins. Collectors are drawn to the annually changing reverse designs and the proof editions. Storage is where the 2013 size change becomes practical knowledge: a post-2013 one-ounce silver Britannia at 38.61 mm fits a different capsule from a pre-2013 coin at 40 mm, so it is always worth checking the year before choosing a holder. The fractional gold coins each have their own diameter, from 16.5 mm for the tenth-ounce up to 32.69 mm for the one-ounce.
See the recommended capsules for every size of this coin.
More in our coin histories.