On Friday, February 8, The Royal Mint launched its 2019 Britannia range. Each year The Royal Mint features a reinterpretation of Britain’s most iconic national symbol on a range of precious metals coins and this year for the first time a 2oz gold Britannia coin makes an appearance in the range.
Around 2,000 years ago, Britannia first appeared on the coins of Roman emperor Hadrian in the second century. She has appeared on British coinage under every monarch since Charles II’s reign in the 17th century. The story of Britannia is intimately linked with the story of the nation she represents – Britain.
For 2019, David Lawrence offers his second interpretation of Britannia, standing boldly with a lion by her side. This is the second year in a row that David has contributed a portrait of Britannia, lending her an air of consistency as the current and previous incarnations are compared side by side.
David said of his of design:
“My initial thoughts were influenced by the great engravers of the past. Their work has a classical grace and gravitas I was keen to recreate. After all, coins of the realm are serious business. The lion had to be there somewhere, as did the shield and trident… many of the components were already decided in a way. The end result is an Anglicized version of ancient Rome.”
Each Britannia set and coin is housed in a Royal Mint branded case, tailored accordingly to the contents, and is complemented by a booklet that reveals Britannia’s journey through history to the present day and the inspiration behind the design.
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About The Royal Mint
The Royal Mint has an unbroken history of minting British coinage dating back over 1,100 years. Based in the Tower of London for over 500 years, by 1812 The Royal Mint had moved out of the Tower to premises on London’s Tower Hill. In 1967 the building of a new Royal Mint began on its current site in South Wales, UK, to accommodate the minting of UK decimal coinage.
Today, The Royal Mint is the world’s largest export mint, supplying coins to the UK and overseas countries.
