Anyone Else Collecting Britannias?

Was a big fan of the Britannias, but not so much as of late. All the individual coins are beautiful but I find the Britannias as a series lacking unity. It looked like the original idea was to have all the even years feature a standard design (Lady Britannia with trident on water) and all the odd years change year to year. But then that pattern is broken at least twice (2008, 2010). And there's more than one occasion of recycling old designs in the even years as well (2006). The finish used on the bullion coins is different year to year. And, The Royal Mint even flip-flopped in the packaging, going between hard and soft plastic and no packaging at all.

Now it just feels inconsistent and messy as a set. Again, beautiful coins, individually, but I now much prefer the unchanging and intricate maples or the ever-changing kookaburras/koalas/kangaroos

Still have a few. You have to respect a bullion coin with it's own unique purity (958 silver, called the Britannia standard)

The gilded 1/2 and 1 oz. Special proofs are by far my favorite Britannias. I try to get the 1.85 oz Ag proof set every year, APMEX generally has them at a reasonable US$. Waiting for them to get a couple of the 9-coin anniversary sets.

Next year, technically the Britannias won't be Britainnia (.9512) silver but .999. Britannias are an an acquired taste, much like the Chinese silver Panda series. Not for everyone due to the higher than usual premium.

Got several orders in mail today so now I have from 1998-2010. Not the greatest picture but you get the idea.

They are all over the place but there are some real beauties in the series. I have the 2011 and 2012 coming with my order of Canadian Antelopes.

The premium is way steep for some of the older coins.

BEAUTIFUL!

jakedacc - I think your energy would be better spent hunting for something else. Trying to find Brits w/out that kick-in-the-head premium is like trying to find a Morgan dollar in rolls of pennies. I put many hours into hunting Brits w/out the killer premium and came up dry. My luck in many ebay "down to the wire" hunts was also zilch - somebody always pounded in and outbid me in the last couple seconds w/ an APMEX-level bid. In ebay, at least you have the theoretical possibility of getting lucky (even if the odds are nil), but that possibility never came home to roost for me. My luck w/ the Brits tells me the only way I'll be collecting any of them is by biting the bullet and forking over the long $$. I even emailed The Royal Mint, looking to be referred to a US agent. They pointed me at gov.mint, and I found their prices made APMEX look like last-ditch church rummage sale prices. I still don't have any Brits. Good luck, though...

However -- if anybody has any hot tips about reasonable prices at some source I missed, I'd LOVE to hear all about it. Please ... let's hear it !! Thanks.