Best Value Britannia Half Ounce Gold coin

Gold Britannia Half Ounce coin

Britannia Half Ounce gold coins are bullion coins issued by the Royal Mint.

All our pre-owned coins undergo strict quality checks by our team of experts to ensure their condition is excellent. Coins will be carefully packed loose, without expensive presentation boxes to maximize the amount of gold for your money.

The Britannia gold coin was first issued in 1987 to rival the Krugerrand (The silver version followed in 1997). Despite the Mint’s undoubted track record and success with producing and selling the famous Sovereign coin, its obscure weight (0.2354oz of gold) left the door open for the Krugerrand to target the growing retail investment market which sought simplicity and transparency. With the Krugerrand being the first bullion coin to contain exactly 1oz of gold, the international investment market snapped up the South African coin in droves. It remains the most plentiful 1oz coin on the market. Perhaps, late to the game, The Royal Mint took 20 years after the Kruger’s launch to begin production of the Britannia. Its popularity in all its size variations proves they were right to launch the new coin.

The half-ounce Britannia provides an easy way to buy smaller amounts of gold bullion than its full ounce big brother and is a great alternative to the sovereign.

Britannias are minted in four various sizes and weights: one-ounce, half-ounce, quarter-ounce and tenth-ounce.

These have face values of £100, £50, £25 and £10 respectively, meaning the coins are classified as legal tender. This provides a strong incentive to the investment community seeking tax-free gold coins.

Up until 2012, they were produced in 22-carat gold. From 2013 onwards, it changed to 24-carat gold.

In a similar way to the US Mint launching the 24 carat Buffalo coin, the upgrade to ‘fine gold’ in 2013 was a calculated strategy to widen the appeal of the Britannia on a global stage.

The coin itself features the Queen’s head on one side and on the reverse, the classic sight of Britannia holding her trident.

The picture illustrates the type of coin you’ll receive, not the exact item

History

Britannia has been used to describe Great Britain since the 1^st century when its inhabitants were Celtic Britons.

It was only in the 2^nd century that Britannia took the form we know of today. That being a goddess armed with her trident and wearing the Corinthian helmet.

Britannia was first seen on Roman coins almost 2,000 years ago around 119 AD.

The Romans used female figures to represent continents and countries.

A seated version of Britannia was shown sitting on rocks in coins of emperor Hadrian’s time (117-138 AD). These rocks were probably the first view that the Roman’s had of Great Britain.

Britannia’s first appearance on a British coin was in 1652 when she appeared on the Charles II farthing. Britannia back then was a symbol of the British might at sea as she was seen as the ‘queen of seas’.

The sight of a standing Britannia seen on coins was the design of Philip Nathan. The strength of the British Empire was characterised by Britannia’s shield and trident.

These days Britannia has found herself to be an icon amongst British culture and had been used on all modern coins until a change in design in 2008. She was particularly known as the reverse of the 50p.

As a feature on British bullion coins, Britannia appears regularly as these are issued annually by the Royal Mint. This makes these coins instantly collectable.

Our Expert Opinion

The half-ounce Britannia provides a favourable mix of low premium and divisible size. For the modest investor, the half Britannia means owning more coins for your portfolio than selecting the one-ounce version. However, at nearly double the size of the Sovereign coin, it’s production cost and associated premium are far lower than the quarter and tenth-ounce Britannias.

To lower the overall average cost further, we’d advise teaming this coin with the larger Britannia if possible, and with a mix of Sovereign and Half Sovereigns to achieve a really mixed size of various coinage.