2011 Silver Britannia Now Available

Hawklet

I got my first look at the design of the 2011 Britannia over at the BRM's website, and it appears it's already available for purchase (earlier than I remember in years past). It's okay, but not up to the standards of the Philip Nathan designs, in my opinion. In any case, I thought some of the people around here might be interested.

2011 Silver Britannia

wybrit

I would agree - it looks like the design on the penny 1937-1970, which isn't all that interesting.

7Jaguars

Hey, I want that surly and goofy lion back that was at Britannia's feet ('07 or so?). Well, this one is ugly and appears to my bespectacled eyes to picture Britannia somewhat dumpy and foreshortened as they used to say in Jr. High School Industrial Arts & none too noble sadly...The slavish amongst us will still probably get one - guilty be I!

pendragon1998

I actually like the original design for the seated Britannia, as it appeared on 19th century British coins. This year's britannia isn't really exciting me, though (based on the provided image). I think what bothers me is how small the seated Britannia is relative to the size of the coin and the somewhat distracting overlay of the flag.

I think reusing the seated Britannia would have been a fine tribute to a classic design, but the implementation is the problem. They should have made Britannia larger, so that she filled up the coin better. I'd have also liked to see something done with the background (add in some ships and lighthouses, as has been previously done). Finally, the flag, while interesting, makes the design somewhat busy on this year's silver britannia. I have to say that I've admired previous issues much more than this one, although you never know how attractive a design might be when it's in-hand; some previous issues (e.g., 2010) looked unattractive in their RM advertisement, but looked much better once the real coin arrived.

7Jaguars

Yes, my feeling exactly as the seated Britannia is quite a noble figure much loved, for example, on the large module copper pennies through 1860.

pendragon1998

Not a lot of excitement about this issue, apparently.

tydye

This was one of my favorite series until the last 2 years - I guess they are running out of cool designs

7Jaguars

Hey, you can buy a proof at only 2-3x the cost! LOL!!

pendragon1998

<< <i>This was one of my favorite series until the last 2 years - I guess they are running out of cool designs >>



I rather like the 2010 issue. I have a feeling this year might end up being a key year, if enough people hate it. OTOH, Royal Mint quality shot up substantially on the britannias this year, so there might be more quality coins in 2011.