2021 Gold Britannia 1oz Bullion Coin

The Gold Britannia is one of the UK's most popular methods of buying gold bullion. The 2021 Gold Britannia 1oz Bullion Coin features an image of Britannia on the reverse side and the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Jody Clark on the obverse.

Innovative Security

The 2021 Gold Britannia 1oz has introduced some of the most advanced security features so as to give visual authentication of this amazing and beautiful coin. There are four major safeguards:

• There is an image of a padlock (to the lower left of Britannia) that changes to Britannia's Trident when the coin is viewed from different angles. The Royal Mint have described this as a latent image.
• As you oscillate the coin the waves appear to be animated.
• If you look just inside the legend (which is the lettering around the edge) there are a second set of inscriptions in very small lettering repeating the words DECUS ET TUTAMEN ('An ornament and a safeguard'). This micro-text is not only decorative but is very secure as it is cutting-edge technology and very difficult to produce on coins.
• Britannia's shield has the Union flag filled with tincture lines, which are very small strokes used to give a shading effect. They look decorative but are actually very difficult to reproduce.

The 2021 Gold Britannia 1oz is a high value coin and as such investors and collectors may worry about counterfeits. Actually gold coins are very difficult to forge due to gold's unique properties of density and colour. Gold is extremely dense and to use another metal and gold-plate it would result in a coin that is under-weight, over-diameter or half-again as thick, something that would be spotted very easily by a expert.

With the new security features described above, you can feel confident that the 2021 Gold Britannia 1oz is the genuine article, as struck by the Royal Mint.

Description of the 2021 Gold Britannia

The Obverse (front, heads) has Queen Elizabeth II's 5th portrait by Jody Clark. Her Majesty used the Royal Diamond crown which she wore for her coronation and this design has been used on Gold Britannia 1oz since 2015. Jody Clark was the first Royal Mint employee for over 100 years to design a coinage portrait of a Monarch. Clark was also the youngest (at 33) to do so.

On the Reverse (back, tails) of the 2021 Gold Britannia 1oz coin is the image that gives the coin its name - the eponymous Britannia. Britannia is known as the National personification of the United Kingdom. Britannia stands with a trident in her right hand, holding a shield and olive branch in her left. The design was created by Philip Nathan.

Britannia can be traced back to Roman Britain in the 2nd century, and even today you can see her depicted wearing a Corinthian helmet and armed with a trident and shield. Britannia has been long associated with British Naval power and often portrayed with waves of the sea in the background. She has been seen on many coins over the years.

Prior to the launch of the Gold Britannia, the United Kingdom already had a World famous gold coin in the Gold Sovereign. However, in the 1980s there was a growing trend towards pure (999.9, 99.99%) one-ounce gold bullion coins like the Canadian Gold Maple. So the Royal Mint launched a new coin in 1987, a one-ounce gold coin with a name that has been associated with Great Britain for over 2,000 years: The Gold Britannia.