2013 One Ounce Gold Britannias

As The Royal Mint are trying to capture market share with their bullion products they have changed both the alloy of the coin and the packaging this year to bring them in line with other World Mints.

0.9999 Gold

Gold Britannias used to be minted in 22ct gold, but from this year they will be 24 carat or .9999 gold. We do not think this will make a difference to UK collectors - they are still investment gold and so exempt from VAT, and they are still legal tender Sterling hence Capital Gains Tax (C.G.T.) free - but it may make it easier for export.

We believe that many countries impose a higher level of tax or duty when importing 22 carat gold, we have had experience of this with an Australian gentleman who had bought sovereigns from us whilst living in the U.K. and then exchanged them for 24ct when he was returning home to Australia, and we believe that Canada may be the same.

We also think that many Indian and Asian countries prefer fine gold so we assume that The Royal Mint have altered the fineness to appeal to worldwide markets.

Low Relief

The purity of both the silver and gold Britannias appears to have affected the quality and relief of the coins. We believe that some chocolate coins have a higher releif than the 2013 gold Britannia and many people at The World Money Fair in Berlin agreed with us.

The silver coins are significantly worse than the gold coins, so much so that we written a blog post on them, but we still feel that the relief on the gold coin is worth mentioning. The images on the right show the touched up image on top followed by the untouched original image.

You can also see images showing the difference in relief between the 2012 Britannia and the 2013 Britannia.

Britannia Silver

What we find stranger is that the purity of the silver Britannia is now 0.999 as opposed to 0.958 Britannia silver - surely it is no longer a true Britannia? You can read more about this on our original site - www.24carat.co.uk

Packaging - Tubes or Sheets?

Britannias have - for as long as we can remember - been issued in sheets. The gold Britannias have come in 'sensible' sheets* of five that we have had to cut to provide customers with the correct amount of coins, these sheets then protect the coins keeping them fairly close to uncirculated. They are now being packed in tubes, with ten coins in a tube and twenty five tubes in a box so unless you order in multiples of 10 you will now receive them in a small re-sealable bag. We do sell capsules for an additional 50 pence if you would like to protect your coin.

We imagine - pure speculation at this point - that The Royal Mint will then produce an uncirculated coin (in addition to this bullion version) that they will sell at a higher premium, perhaps in fancy packaging that we doubt will justify the extra cost!

*Unlike the silver sheets that fall apart as soon as you lift / move them.

Prices & Availability

Half Ounce

Quarter Ounce

Tenth Ounce

Proofs

Individual Proof Britannias

Postage & Packing