Description
Design of the 1oz gold Britannia
Obverse
The obverse represents the fifth and most recent portrait of her majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The design was first introduced in 2015 by the Royal Mint’s engraver Jody Clark. In the obverse, we can see the Queen wearing the King George IV State Diadem.
The monetary denomination “100 Pounds” is also displayed as well as the inscription “ELIZABETH II . D . G . REG . F . D”.
Reverse
The reverse depicts the britannia, an ancient british queen who defied the roman empire against the invasion of Great Britain. The Britannia stands upwding wearing a Corinthian helmet. She holds a shield and an olive branch in her right hand. Her right hand holds firmly a trident spear. This design of the coin reverse was created by the artist Phillip Nathan.
The inscription “1 oz” is mentioned, aside to the purity “999.9 FINE GOLD” and the year of issue.
Brief History of the Gold Britannia
The symbol of the britannia first appeared on coins of the roman emperor Hadrian in 119 A.C, over two thousand years ago. Then later on copper halfpennies and farthings of Charles II from 1672. Britannia continued to appear on bronze coins until decimalisation when she appeared on the fifty pence coins. Between 1901 and 1935, Britannia was portrayed standing on British Trade Dollars as well as on the florins of Edward VII from 1902 to 1910.
The sculptor Philip Nathan, designer of the first Britannia bullion coin envisaged a design with a classic and iconic symbol. In its classical coinage artwork, he produced the picture of the ancient queen britannia standing firmly upwind. This ancient queen is famous to have protected the United Kingdom the roman invasion. Thereafter, this queen became the symbol of the british nation
The first Britannia gold bullion coins were introduced to the public in 1987 by the Royal Mint in four different formats: 1 oz, 1/2 oz, 1/4 oz and 1/10 oz, for the face values of £100, £50, £25 and £10 were selected. From 1987 to 2012, these coins were produced in 22 carats gold. However, to be in line with the majority of other bullion coins from world mints, the Royal Mint decided in 2013 to change the purity to 99.99 %. The recent mintage have been made in 24 carats gold, from 2013 onwards. Although these differences of fineness, all gold britannia contain 1 ounce of fine gold.
The crown depicted in the gold britannia is typically worn by the Queen Elisabeth II during the annual State Opening of Parliement.
Nowadays, the symbol design of the gold britannia has symbolized Britain strenght’s and integrity on coinage. All the britannia bullion coin are minted by the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, South Wales, and backed for their purity and content.
