Yesterday, the Royal British Mint launched two limited edition sets to mark the 25th anniversary of the release of the first proof Gold Britannia coins in 1987.
Britannia has appeared on English coins since the seventeenth century and has become an emblem for Great Britain. The release of gold proof Britannia coins in 1987 was followed by silver coins in 1997. Currently, there are annual releases of gold and silver bullion coins as well as various numismatic versions. Designs have rotated, although several years have used the original 1987 design, which has also been selected for 2012.
The 2012 Britannia 9 Coin Silver Set includes nine one-half silver ounce coins featuring all nine of the designs featured since 1987. The sets come with a 25th anniversary booklet and certificate. The worldwide mintage is limited to 2,012 sets and the price on the Royal Mint site is £500.00. (Royal Mint page)
The 9 Coin Gold Set includes one-half ounce gold coins featuring the nine designs. The sets also come with a booklet and certificate. This set is apparently limited to just 25 and only available to purchase exclusively via The Royal Mint’s international contact center at 1-866-519-7298. I have not seen any indication of the pricing, but I am guessing it would be into five figures.
These sets would surely make for a stunning display, but they are priced at a premium to intrinsic value which is more aggressive than most other world mints. For the few years I have been watching Royal Mint products, I have seen them offer some extremely high end products with very limited mintages that are likely targeted at a very upscale market as opposed to the typical collector.
I have been enjoying the Britannia coins with the annual purchase of the one ounce silver bullion versions. I have yet to venture into any of the proof versions or numismatic sets.
“They are priced at a premium to intrinsic value which is more aggressive than most other world mints.” That is the understatement of the year, that is $793 for $140 of silver based on today’s prices, and people complain about the US Mint.
I have been buying from the Royal Mint for years. Recently, they changed management and with the change came astronomical prices. They charge in excess of 100% above spot price for proof gold coins, and silver is just as expensive. Being a client with the Royal Mint actually does give one a slight discount if you are a registered US buyer – no VAT tax, so the £500 set, mentioned in the article, will sell for £416.67 to a US customer.
Some of the collectors coins for the 2012 Olympics are, however, not available to US customers. Those coins are sometimes available from Govmint.com for yet another premium.
Jeez almost $800 USD for 4 1/2 oz of silver. I know its numi but typically collector sets go for 3-4x price of silver not almost 20x.
Dirk, the set would be $661.00 for a US Customer. Still too high! I mentioned about the VAT discount above. Just note that gold coins from the Royal Mint is not VAT deductible – only silver. The price you see is the price you pay.
The 2012 Britannia 4-coin Silver Proof set (1.85 oz) is also available from yesterday at a price of £162.50 ($258.17) to US customers.
Is that 25 number a FINAL mintage for that gold set. If it is it might be worth paying 20k. But not much higher…
Prizing is crazy. Are there buyers in secondary market in US? I dont see that much happening. Any link to the 9 gold coins set? Atleaset I can look at the picture before they disappear. I could not find one.
Thanks
I don’t believe the 9 coin gold set is listed on their website. The information for ordering comes from here: http://news.coinupdate.com/britannia-celebration-marked-with-proof-gold-and-silver-anniversary-sets-1297/
Not only are these coins vastly overpriced, but as someone suggested above, there is not likely to be much market for them here. Sorry to sound cynical, but to me this is a good way to throw your money away! The only UK coins I buy are the bullion silver Britannias.
off topic:
10-coin dragon is available at perthmint now.
my concern is the these proof coins are very easy to get “foggy”. i have 09, 10, 11 proof ones, and 09 4-coin set.
All I’m saying is 25 is incredibly low if that is all of these types of coin to be minted. There will be a secondary market for new coins of which only 25 if that type exist. As it looks one of the Britannias will be offered in the other proof set. But the other 8? This might be for flippers. I’m trying to call and get a price on that gold set.
Off-topic: Anyone see the maple leaf titanic privy on APMEX? 25,000 mintage and not much premium at $10 over spot. I like this understated and affordable nod to the 100th anniversary compared to most of the full-on tribute coins offered by many mints.
http://www.apmex.com/product/68122/.aspx?utm_source=HomePage&utm_medium=FlashBanner&utm_campaign=040412SilverTitanic
Anyone see the maple leaf titanic privy on APMEX? 25,000 mintage and not much premium at $10 over spot.
It’s only $10 premium if you buy 500 coins. If you can buy a monster box of a particular coin, it ain’t rare. Also, RCM has a habit of producing a whole bunch of coins with privy marks, including 1998 Titanic. Some of those can be had for under $50 too.
APMEX bought the entire 25K mintage, and only about 1,000 coins are still available. It’s also a reverse proof. No, it is not rare, nor are most modern coins. But for $10 over spot how can you go wrong? I just got two at about $11 over spot. No need to buy 500 to save a buck. .
Also, Shutter, the 1998 coins are not currently under $50. Look at e-Bay closing prices. The latest ones are all between $65 and $111, not counting the NGC MS69.
Good luck selling your over-priced Britannia sets, folks.. I also think it is lazy to use the same designs as past issues. Why not a special design for the anniversary?
Good lord, those prices are ridiculous. The standard proof variety alone comes out to about $146.95! Well, not including the VAT tax break anyway. Even so, this seems pretty excessive.
The latest ones are all between $65 and $111
Let’s see:
220950724609 $47.55
280817646485 $51.00
280828043360 $51.00
270924466459 $51.00
150763805795 $48.99
eBay is not a good place to judge value. Some imbecile just paid $779.99 for Star-Spangled Banner Two-Coin Proof Set in OGP. I’m pretty sure I can still buy directly from the Mint for $555.00, so I don’t think it’s really worth an additional $220. Another guy sold 3 silver Star Spangled Proofs for $63.95 each. You really going to be guided by those morons?
It’s possible to get decent prices on eBay. But you need patience and let morons spend their money first. When something isn’t rare, you can wait for a better price and usually get it.
Shutter,
“Recent” can be defined different ways. I was only going back a few weeks, and I told myself you would challenge me on that point, and sure enough you did. The point is they are all well over what I paid today.
Like I said i paid $43. You can’y buy it anywhere for less, and it’s only for sale from APMEX or e-Bay. I agree about e-Bay, but I don’t see why it would be less than $43 unless silver drops again.
Once APMEX sells their remaining coins, I suspect prices will go higher. Either way, silver prices will eventually be more than what I paid.
Louis,
Another closed last night for $50.89. You’re right that eBay prices are all over the map. There are indeed people paying over $100 for them (even though APMEX has them for $87). The point is that with eBay you have to give more weight to lower prices and less to higher prices.
If you paid $43 when silver was $33, that means you paid 30% premium. At the same time you could have had a plain vanilla Maple Leaf for $35. If price of silver goes up $10, will Titanic Privy go up $13 or more? If not, then you lost. In my mind that may be ok for a coin I really like, but this is still a plain old Maple Leaf (just with a tiny mark on it made to separate more people from their cash). I can also understand it if you want to collect every variety of Maple Leaf.
With all that out of the way, there are 4 things I don’t like about this coin.
1. Selling entire mintage to a single dealer. Imagine the howling that would occur if Bullion ATBs were only sold to APMEX and no other APs?
2. Overuse of Privy Marks. Canada seems to have produced an awful lot of them in recent years. They are nothing more than a marketing feature.
3. If you want to commemorate something, issue a full on commemorative coin. Also have a reason to commemorate something. I get the 2012 Titanic, but what were they commemorating in 1998? And what’s with Leaning Tower of Pisa Privy?
4. Commemorating Titanic is a bit ghoulish. I can sorta live with that, when it’s a nicely designed and executed coin, but here it’s just naked greed.
priv•y/ˈprivē/
Noun: A toilet located in a small shed outside a house or other building; outhouse.
Synonyms: noun. toilet – lavatory – water closet – restroom
Don’t really want that on any of my coins!
Sorry guys, couldn’t resist – LOL
APMEX is not the only dealer has it, Westminster also has it.
Don’t forget to tack on the $12.95 S.H. APMEX Charges to that 30% premium. Unless someone out there knows a way to work around it, like a discount shipping code of some sort? I’ve been really hard press to shop at APMEX for that reason.
Mercury, I only pay $10 shipping per order no matter how large at APMEX and I always combine a few items into one order. Even if I order something really heavy like one of the wood boxes for the AtB’s, it’s still $10 for everything. I wanted a couple other items from APMEX, so it worked out fine.
@Shutter. Thanks for you comments. However, while I used to agree on it being weird to commemorate the Titanic, I have warmed to the idea.
Also, the 2012 Titanic privy marks, and I think the 1998 too, are not regular maple leafs. They are reverse proofs. Look at the pic at APMEX. Anyway, I am not trying to convince anyone to get it, or not get it. I just like it and think the price was fair.
Samuel, Westminster only sells the 1998, as far as I could determine.
Do they also sell the 2012 coin, and if so, for how much? Is it less then
the $43 I paid?
Never mind, I just found it. $43.50.
Actually, that was a different coin. I do not see the 2012 privy mark at Westminster. Sorry, I’m on too little sleep!
Louis, u r right, thats a 98 coin, $75. i did not pay attention to the year of the coin.
how you get the $10 shipping? the lowest shipping is $12.5, which prevents me from buying from them. gainesville/provident have lower shipping.
Samuel, I don’t know exactly how it works. I have been buying from APMEX for years, and at a certain point, they lowered my shipping. I think it is related to how much business you do with them. I am just a small collector, but over time it adds up. Gainesville and Provident are great but they don’t have the selection APMEX does. But for certain items they are cheaper, as you know.
Louis, I see. i just buy from them for less than 12 month since last april, my first order is the 2010 atb 5oz set, which was less than 1 grand. over the past 12 months i probably spent more than 10 grand with them. these days i am not happy with them is that, when i buy proof coins, the coins are always in bad quality which makes think that those are leftovers, which they picked the good one for grading and sell the bad ones in original capsule.
Samuel, You spent a lot more than I did, so you may want to check with them to see if you can get your shipping reduced in the event you still want to buy from them. They tend to be very responsive to customer concerns in my experience. You can also return anything that is not of good quality.
Based on loyalty and the amount of orders/value you submit over time to APMEX, your account may be upgraded to Platinum Status. This is entirely at their discretion and not by request. This upgrade is coupled to $10 for shipping, no matter what you buy. On your APMEX personal details page, the heading at the top of the page will indicate whether you are a platinum member or not.
Louis, I once did return a thing, but later I just give up. i have to pay the return shipping, insurance etc and most likely i will still get the same quality one. later i found out gainesville/provident/westminster prices are better, shipping is more reasonable. for dragons/pandas provident has the best price i found out.
Schalk, thx for the info, i have nothing at that place. maybe way to go. i do know apmex treats customers very differently like the airline membership. when i ordered the atb 5oz set last year, there are A/B/C/Ds at the inside box, i got a lowest grade box, all 68s, my friend got a box with some 69s. he told me A/B/C/Ds represents whats inside. for a new comer, they gave me the lowest one. and the box my friend got, it already worth more than $2k when he received it because of those 69s.
“News Flash”
The Fine Silver $20 Coin – Aster with Venetian Glass Bumble Bee – Mintage: 10,000 (2012) sold out on pre-release at the RCM.
Schalk, i just posted it on the other thread. this is VERY bad for RCM. the public dont even have a chance!
The Aster with Bumble Bee did not have an ordering limit. This is what happens with popular coins with no ordering limit. When the first coin was launched, it did not sell out on pre-release. I think the RCM was caught unawares of the popularity of the coin. Although I have access to the pre-releases, I am also a member of the public – but I am also a loyal buyer at the RCM. I got my order in for one coin yesterday, but missed out entirely on the first coin.
Back to the Britannia coin. The proof 1 oz is a beautiful coin and I think, what makes it so special, is the edge (next to the rim) design – unique. The price of the one ounce is not that terrible – $121.00 approx. This is cheap for the Royal Mint
. The most beautiful one of them all is still the Chariot design, last seen in 2009. The first time the chariot design was released was in 1999. Note that the 25th anniversary of Britannia is only applicable to the gold coin series. The Silver Coin series is 13 years old.
Correction: Chariot design was in 1997 and 2009. Series is 15 years old – there were a couple of years where no proof coins were released.
Too bad on the Bumble Bee, I thought I read somewhere there was a pre-order limit of 3 coins for the Master’s Club members . With the 10,000 mintage (2X LabyBug mintage) I’d planned to try for a Bumble Bee or 2 on April 9th when they are scheduled to go public
I guess I’ll dream til then that RCM saved a couple for public release or some pre-orders get cancelled and become available!
Rolling Thunder
You are correct. I just checked on the RCM website – the coin had a 3-coin per household ordering limit.
Thanks Shalk, I’m not a Master’s Club member but saw the limit mentioned on another coin forum.
With 2X mintage Bumble Bee will not likely reach LadyBug prices, but should still have a good premium since it is unlikely coin dealers will have large numbers available.
Rolling Thunder
I am just amazed that it sold out so quickly – the first coin is definitely the key coin in the series – which I do not have. It is like the Mongolian Antique coins, the first one, the Wolverine, fetching prices in excess of $2000.00. But, I suspect that the Hedgehog will be another contender for the coin of the year in another 2-years time, – and, as far as I am concerned, the Hedgehog is the best design of the three, followed by the Ural Owl and then only the Wolverine.
Similarly, I think that the Bumble Bee is a better design than the Ladybug – but only time will tell.
Schalk- I agree on the hedgehog.
They are reverse proofs.
They are definitely not proof, reverse or otherwise. Think of it. Who would ship proof coins in monster boxes? When TPGs got a hold of 1998 version, they marked them as SP. A lot of Canadian coins fall into that category.
The bottom line is that RCM issued well over 30 Privy marked Maple Leafs in the last 14 years, most of them to order by one 3rd party or other. Many with very low mintages. This leads me to believe that you could have your own personal Privy Mark Maple Leaf issue and be the market maker. I want to stay away from coins that can only be bought from a single dealer. Buying stuff like that will encourage wrong sort of behaviors by the Mints and dealers.
Michael
If you are interested in South African Coins, I have a great deal to offer – especially regarding the coins issued on the 100 year anniversary of the discovery of the South Pole- the South African Natura Gold Series, Protea Series and Proof Krugerrands etc. Please contact me by email. I am a South African by birth.
Well, I decided to try on a silver Britannia proof. Put my order in earlier today. Just as Schalk said, the price of the coins is substantially reduced for USA customers. The Britannia was still about as expensive as a typical one ounce silver dragon numismatic issue, though.
Captain, how much for the Britannia?
Hi Samuel,
It’s £77, or $122 presently. I imagine the price fluctuates with the exchange rate.
Captain,
thx for the info. i am going to buy several. the price is similar to what apmex had for the 2010 ones before. i bought my 09, 10, 11 from a small UK coin store last yr for about £55. the 9-coin set is good, just the coins r too small, diameter is only 27mm.
The 2012 Britannia Proof has a total mintage of 5,550 with only 2,450 being sold individually. That’s well within Perth Mint territory…
the 09, 10, 11 proof britannia r all 3000.
Frankie,
The mintage was one of the things that made consider giving it a shot. I will probably not make a habit of buying Britannias, but I definitely like the 2012 design, and articles about the coins on Coin Update and Coin Week were what originally got me interested.
Samuel,
Will you be picking up anything other than the proof coins?
Ordered one as well. I’ve looked at previous eBay auctions and resale is all over the place. I agree they are a good looking coin which prompted me to get it along with the low mintage.
Captain,
I definitely will pick up several single proof ones, but not sure if it is now. i currently have 09, 10, 11 proof ones, and 09 4-coin set and BU ones for most of the years. my concern is that the britannia is very easy to get “foggy”. and UK local dealers/ebayer will be cheaper than the mint. the good thing about this years design is that, it is the same design for the even years before 06. i m still hesitating about the 9-coin set, i think the coins r just too small, only 27mm in diameter, so i probably will pass. and i wont buy gold ones, too pricy.
All this British stuff will probably be cheaper on e-bay and from dealers later. That is what has happened in recent years. Not my cup of tea, though I do like the designs, which is why I get the bullion versions. Some of them have mintages well below 100K and sell for $100-200 a coin or many multiples of issue price.
Louis, from what I’ve seen you’re probably right. Seems like the mint has been raising prices over the last few years. I read a couple articles from British coin dealers complaining that buyers are getting ripped off and some saying they won’t purchase from them anymore. I don’t see much in the way of premiums on these coins in the aftermarket.