Britannias are a relatively new addition to the line up of British coins, having only been in production since 1987 for gold Britannias and 1997 for the silver Britannia. The Britannia coins depict the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse and a variety of designs featuring the goddess, Britannia, on the reverse. Since their inception, the portrait of the Queen has seen four versions with the most recent change being in 1998, when the portrait was changed to the "fourth portrait", depicting a more mature look for the Queen.
These coins have been minted in both gold and silver and they contain one troy ounce of the precious metal.
The Gold Britannia
While gold Britannia coins contain one troy ounce of gold, they hold a face value of just £100. To facilitate monetary exchanges, the Gold Britannias are issued in smaller denominations of one-half, one-quarter, and one-tenth of a troy ounce and the face values of these coins follows suit with the coins holding a value of £50, £25, and £10 respectively. Gold Britannias were originally struck in 22 carat gold, but The Royal Mint switched to .9999 fine gold in 2013.
The Silver Britannia
The silver Britannias were first made public in 1997 as a silver proof set. Since the year 1997, the reverse design of the silver Britannia has shown the image of a standing Britannia figure during even-numbered years. From 1999 onward, the standing figure of Britannia has been replaced on the reverse side of the silver Britannia with a line of different, non-repeating depictions of Britannia during odd numbered years.
Silver Britannias were originally minted from 95.8% pure silver, which is also known as Britannia silver. In 2012 The Royal Mint switched to .999 silver to appral to a broader international market. Silver Britannias carry a face value of £2. Like their gold counterparts, silver Britannias are issued in fractional denominations of one-half, one-quarter, and one-tenth of a troy ounce and they bear respective face values of £1, 50p, and 20p.
The History of the Britannia Reverse Image
In AD 43, the Roman Empire took over the island we now know as Great Britain and established a province they called Britannia. This name came to symbolise the island and, at some point in the 2nd century, the Roman Britannia came to be depicted as a centurion helmeted, warrior goddess, who was armed with a trident-like spear and shield. The Britannia goddess first appeared on the British Farthing in 1672 which also marked the first British coin to bear the image of the Britannia. Since that time, the Britannia has been a popular theme for British coinage reverse images.
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