In 2007 to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the first Britannia, the Royal Mint released a very Limited Issue Britannia 20p Twenty Pence Silver Proof Coin struck in solid .958 Silver and weighing one-tenth of an ounce of pure Silver.
It was the Romans who first named the Island of England and Scotland, Britannia and the Romans who, to depict their colonisation of a conquered country, first portrayed Britannia on their coins. Much later, Britannia was to become a fitting symbol to grace the reverse of the copper coins of Charles II when, in direct allusion to the then war with the Dutch, her image symbolised her sovereignty of the seas.
She has graced the coinage of every British Monarch since and over the centuries, has naturally been subject to stylistic changes. Now, especially for the gold and silver Britannia's of 2007, a new image has been created by Christopher Le Brun RA. 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 design of the Britannia 20p Twenty Pence Silver Proof Coin is a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II designed by Ian Rank Broadley FRBS. These legal tender coins have been struck to proof quality using specially prepared dies and highly polished blanks.
Limited Mintage Worldwide
Mark a milestone or great British moment with this year-dated Britannia coin
Finished to Royal Mints Proof Quality
Struck in Solid Fine .958 Silver Weighing One Tenth of an Ounce of Pure Silver
