Britannia Design Changes

We are awaiting further details but when the change as announced it sounded like two different ones will be made each year.

The bullion release and the tradional one.

The bullion one has been available for a while but no news of the tradional one yet.

http://www.coinworld.com/Articles/V...ver-for-brit

" Beginning in November, collectors and investors will be able to buy 2013 Britannia 1-ounce .999 fine silver bullion coins (which are denominated £2) and Britannia 1-ounce .9999 fine gold bullion coins (which are denominated £100). The reverses of the coins will bear the traditional Philip Nathan design of a standing figure of a graceful Britannia, wind blowing her robes left while she holds a trident. Britannia wears a Corinthian helmet and bears also a shield.

Nathan's reverse design appeared in 1987 with the debut of the Britannia gold bullion program, and was first featured on a silver Britannia in 1998, a year after the silver program began to coincide with the gold program's 10th anniversary. Since 1998, eight other different designs have appeared on Britannia coins, with Nathan's design returning to the coin five times, including on the 2012 coins marking the 25th anniversary of the program.

A different reverse design than Nathan's standard will be used for Brilliant Uncirculated and Proof versions of the Britannia coins, which are to be launched in April 2013."

Ken

I used to collect each Britannia but soon got a little bored that every other year was the same old design while the years in between were different designs. I started just collecting the design change coins and just had a few of the ones that kept the design they kept changing back to every other year. I did keep the 2006 24k gilded set of all the different designs up to that date but have cut my collection down quite a bit from getting one each year like I used to

I've been collecting them since the begining - 1997 and quite liked the alternating design theme. The different new designs balancing the continuity of the more traditional standing Britania. I've been put off a lot in more recent years by the inflated prices and lowering standards. No frosting since 2006. Since 2008 the alternating theme has been abandoned and chaos has taken over. New, repeat of an old design not used for 10 years,new,new,standing,standing. I thought the last two new designs were both horrible. This years' issue sent out with scratches. The mint doesn't seem to care what it sends out as long as it can put the price up every year. I agree with Demarco, the mint is definately trading on it's history and is into quantity at the expense of quality.

Will the silver proofs be .958 or .999?

With what The Royal Mint charges (or should that be overcharges?) for proof coins they can forget it. There are plenty of other silver coins on the market worth collecting that are cheaper than the Britannia and better quality to boot.