In 2007, to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Britannia, the Royal Mint for the first time ever released a very Limited Issue Britannia £10 Ten Pound Platinum Proof Coin struck in solid fine 999.5 Platinum weighing one-tenth of an ounce of fine pure Platinum.
The portrait remains faithful to her character, giving her a more contemporary air yet still associating her with symbols of Britain. Christopher Le Brun admits that he found Britannia familiar yet 'profoundly strange and highly emotive' and was pleased that her emblematic nature gave him to 'return to the original notion of Britannia as the personification of Nymph of the Islands'. "I find this very evocative: the figure on the shore of Albion, the wooded island, owing something to the imagery of Spenser and Milton".
He has, therefore, chosen to depict her in a traditional seated pose with a watchful lion at her feet and in the distance a shoreline of cliffs. The obverse is a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and has been designed by Ian Rank Broadley. These legal tender coins have been struck to proof quality using specially prepared dies and highly polished blanks.
Limited Mintage of 691 Coins Worldwide
Struck to Royal Mint's Proof Quality
Minted in Solid Fine 999.5 Platinum Weighing One Tenth of an Ounce of Pure Platinum
