1997 1oz silver britannia?

[SilverBruce]

Hi everyone,

 

I've only recently started stacking and inadvertently started collecting. 🤦‍♂️

 

I've decided I'd like a 1oz silver brit from every year and have a few years already.

 

Does anyone know what they're actully worth and how hard they are to come by? 

 

Also, of all the other years, are there any that are also rare or hard to come by?

 

Thanks for any of your help.

[Petra]

From recent personal experience I have found the individual 1997 coin very hard to find and the odd one seen going for a lot of money. I ended up looking on auction sites and buying a 1997 set. It went from hard to find to one auction selling three. Worked out a lot cheaper than one coin.

[TheShinyStuff]

Hi, the first silver Britannia in 1997 was only released as a proof, both individually and in a 4 coin set (1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/10 oz). Therefore they are the most expensive. Some people don't include them in their bullion date run for this reason. Generally if you are going to buy a 1997 proof then a set is way more cost effective than an individual coin. If you are patient and lucky the set can be had for around £100.

The others are pretty easy to find. I am 3/4 of the way through the same date run, and so far haven't paid more than £30 for any coin. Obviously the older ones can be a bit more expensive, the ones with unique reverses. Also 1999-2003 have slightly lower mintage, but still 50,000+ minted, so not rare.

The later .999 ones from 2014 onwards are  currently going for around £25 on this forum.

This forum is a great place to pick them up, but in general they are all widely available at reasonable prices. Be patient.

Good luck and enjoy. Let us know how you get on.

Edited April 15, 2022 by TheShinyStuff

[LawrenceChard]

7 hours ago, SilverBruce said:

Hi everyone,

I've only recently started stacking and inadvertently started collecting. 🤦‍♂️

I've decided I'd like a 1oz silver brit from every year and have a few years already.

Does anyone know what they're actully worth and how hard they are to come by? 

Also, of all the other years, are there any that are also rare or hard to come by?

Thanks for any of your help.

You managed to fill my entire, large, screen with the double-spacing.

Best to just shop around, and be patient.

I am not supposed to self-promote, but this does happen to be a good deal at the moment:

https://www.chards.co.uk/2011-silver-britannia-one-ounce-bullion-coin/736

2011 1 oz Silver Britannia Bullion Coin
Limited Time Special Offer
Buy the 2011 Britannia 1 oz Silver Uncirculated Coin

Featuring two powerful icons of Great Britain, the Union Jack and Britannia, this one ounce uncirculated coin is struck in Britannia silver, 0.958 fineness. Collect the whole series of Britannia coins.

Promotion - Ends 6th May
£27.53
(Special Scheme Inc. VAT)
Original Price

£50.53
(Special Scheme Inc. VAT)

I would expect them to sell out before the "Ends" date.

🙂

[TeaTime]

The difference in cost between the individual 1997 1oz proof and the four coin proof set has always astounded me. Basically people are willing to pay upwards of £50 for the single coin packaging.... There were just shy of 12,000 sets sold and 16,000 individual coins - the highest mintage of any of the proof .958 Britannias yet still one of the most sought after years.

Anyone who wants to make a bit of money should be buying up the sets, manufacturing the individual boxes and repackaging them. Instant £50 profit and a whole lot of fractional silver left over 😁 

[argentumstacker]

On 15/04/2022 at 10:37, LawrenceChard said:

You managed to fill my entire, large, screen with the double-spacing.

Best to just shop around, and be patient.

I am not supposed to self-promote, but this does happen to be a good deal at the moment:

https://www.chards.co.uk/2011-silver-britannia-one-ounce-bullion-coin/736

2011 1 oz Silver Britannia Bullion Coin
Limited Time Special Offer
Buy the 2011 Britannia 1 oz Silver Uncirculated Coin

Featuring two powerful icons of Great Britain, the Union Jack and Britannia, this one ounce uncirculated coin is struck in Britannia silver, 0.958 fineness. Collect the whole series of Britannia coins.

Promotion - Ends 6th May
£27.53
(Special Scheme Inc. VAT)
Original Price

£50.53
(Special Scheme Inc. VAT)

I would expect them to sell out before the "Ends" date.

🙂

Well, I'll buy it just because it's actually Britannia silver

[Guest]

I'm curious.  How well did the Britannias hold up against milk spotting? Were the proofs more resilient than the bullion varieties?   Was one year more of a notorious milk spotter than another?  Did it depend on the silver purity?  Man, I would feel sick if I paid so much money for a proof Britannia only to find it milk spotted a few years later.  I don't have many coins from UK and the ones I do have are at most three years old.  I really liked the RCM wildlife coins but I see now that some are spotted.  Makes me feel gut-punched.  I almost feel like I wish the RCM  would redo the wildlife series again and give us a credit for the older milk spotted ones.

Edited April 17, 2022 by HappyHippo
Add + typos

[Petra]

8 minutes ago, HappyHippo said:

I'm curious.  How well did the Britannias hold up against milk spotting? Were the proofs more resilient than the bullion varieties?   Was one year more of a notorious milk spotter than another?  Did it depend on the silver purity?  Man, I would feel sick if I paid so much money for a proof Britannia only to find it milk spotted a few years later.  I don't have many coins from UK and the ones I do have are at most three years old.  I really liked the RCM wildlife coins but I see now that some are spotted.  Makes me feel gut-punched.  I almost feel like I wish the RCM  would redo the wildlife series again and give us a credit for the older milk spotted ones.

I think the milk spots are to do with the process of making the coins, Britannia are not the only ones to suffer. My 1997 set and others have no spotting (yet!)

[Guest]

Yes, I know.  I think they say it is caused by borate-containing detergents not being properly rinsed off during the process.  The borate salts would then leech to the surface of the coin over time.  I am not picking on Britannias only, but since Britannias are the subject of this thread, I waa wondering if there was any correlation with the questions I asked.  For example, is the RM more careful with proofs such that seeing spots on them is rare?  Sorry, if I implied that the RM is the only one with this problem.

[TheShinyStuff]

Based on absolutely nothing but my personal experience RM proofs are more prone to milking than plain old bullion. Less of an issue on the older .958 Brits (again personal experience only). 

I would also suggest that if a coin hasn't milked after about 5 years or so then it isn't going to.

In summary, older Brits are generally OK, newer and proofs Brits anything could happen... this is why there is no danger of me laying out money on the modern proof series - engravers, QBs, monarchs etc. Don't get me wrong I have a handful of proofs, but no big financial outlay and no 10 coin series depending on them all being OK.

[TeaTime]

I cannot recall ever seeing a RM .958 (Britannia) proof silver coin with milk spotting. The majority of coins that i own with spots are .999 silver.... I do have some .925 proof coins with small spots but until fairly recently most collectors (including me) put the spots down to natural toning rather than a defect.  

Really though, natural toning can be confused with spotting - if there is no defined hard edge to the discolouration then i wouldn't consider it as milk spotting. This i would consider patination - something that will happen to every silver coin ever minted.

[TheShinyStuff]

2 hours ago, TeaTime said:

Really though, natural toning can be confused with spotting - if there is no defined hard edge to the discolouration then i wouldn't consider it as milk spotting. This i would consider patination - something that will happen to every silver coin ever minted.

Good point, but once you know what you're looking at Milking is pretty unmistakable. And pretty ugly, especially on the the big, plain,glossy fields so common on proof coins.

[SilverBruce]

Apologies, I'll keep the spacings to a minimum from now on. 😅 Thanks for the link, I'll take you up on that offer.

[SilverBruce]

On 15/04/2022 at 10:36, TheShinyStuff said:

Hi, the first silver Britannia in 1997 was only released as a proof, both individually and in a 4 coin set (1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/10 oz). Therefore they are the most expensive. Some people don't include them in their bullion date run for this reason. Generally if you are going to buy a 1997 proof then a set is way more cost effective than an individual coin. If you are patient and lucky the set can be had for around £100.

The others are pretty easy to find. I am 3/4 of the way through the same date run, and so far haven't paid more than £30 for any coin. Obviously the older ones can be a bit more expensive, the ones with unique reverses. Also 1999-2003 have slightly lower mintage, but still 50,000+ minted, so not rare.

The later .999 ones from 2014 onwards are  currently going for around £25 on this forum.

This forum is a great place to pick them up, but in general they are all widely available at reasonable prices. Be patient.

Good luck and enjoy. Let us know how you get on.

Thanks for the advice, that is absolutely everything I need to know for now I think. 

Yeah I've started through the forum and everyone has been brilliant. Really happy to have joined.

Good yourself and I'll see how it goes.

[Britannia47]

Let's look at what we're talking about.....

 

[SilverBruce]

59 minutes ago, Britannia47 said:

Let's look at what we're talking about.....

 

£50?

[Britannia47]

2 hours ago, SilverBruce said:

£50?

Hi, 

It may have been £50 when I bought the whole set for £84.95 in 1997 - probably double that now. It is proof by the way! I bought the 4 coin gold set at the same time for £945. Suggest you stick to bullion from Chards or TSF to start with, then when you're a rich pensioner like me, fill your boots! 😄  

 

[SilverBruce]

🤣 thought I'd try my luck.

Thanks for the advice, i think you're probably right. I've already amde the mistake of buying on over priced proof. I love it and it's beautiful but it wasn't a smart move. Definitely learnt my lesson there. 

The 4 coin set was £945?

 

[CySterling]

On 15/04/2022 at 05:15, SilverBruce said:

Hi everyone,

 

I've only recently started stacking and inadvertently started collecting. 🤦‍♂️

 

I've decided I'd like a 1oz silver brit from every year and have a few years already.

 

Does anyone know what they're actully worth and how hard they are to come by? 

 

Also, of all the other years, are there any that are also rare or hard to come by?

 

Thanks for any of your help.

Hi, 

I'm in exactly the same situation. 

Started out with the intention to stack some silver but my inner collector decided to join the party so now I'm looking at a bunch of different series. 

Bought two 2022 Brittanias and then picked up two 2021 and two 2020s so now I'm doing a date run in two's 🤦🏽‍♂️

As a begginer myself, I would say stick to established bullion traders and keep an eye out on here as things pop up at times. 

Good luck with it 👍🏽

[SilverBruce]

3 hours ago, StelliosDriver said:

Hi, 

I'm in exactly the same situation. 

Started out with the intention to stack some silver but my inner collector decided to join the party so now I'm looking at a bunch of different series. 

Bought two 2022 Brittanias and then picked up two 2021 and two 2020s so now I'm doing a date run in two's 🤦🏽‍♂️

As a begginer myself, I would say stick to established bullion traders and keep an eye out on here as things pop up at times. 

Good luck with it 👍🏽

I think I'm pretty much doing the same. 🤣 buying 2s of each. 

Yeah same, had some good deals with decent people on here. Good luck mate.

[CySterling]

I just bought a single 2013 Brittania that I found locally but now my ocd is in overdrive and I need to find another one to make 2... And that's not even taking into account the huge year gap between the 2020s and the 2013 🤦🏽‍♂️😆

[Petra]

3 hours ago, StelliosDriver said:

I just bought a single 2013 Brittania that I found locally but now my ocd is in overdrive and I need to find another one to make 2... And that's not even taking into account the huge year gap between the 2020s and the 2013 🤦🏽‍♂️😆

Wait until you see the 5oz ! The 2013 one looks amazing. Desperate to find a 10oz!

[SilverBruce]

1 hour ago, Petra said:

Wait until you see the 5oz ! The 2013 one looks amazing. Desperate to find a 10oz!

Why have you got to do this to us. 😫 its hard enough trying to reframe from buy all the 1oz in 1 go. Now you go and put the 5oz and 10oz out there. 

[CySterling]

22 minutes ago, SilverBruce said:

Why have you got to do this to us. 😫 its hard enough trying to reframe from buy all the 1oz in 1 go. Now you go and put the 5oz and 10oz out there. 

What you said, buddy 😆

It's so easy to get carried away... And there are so many amazing pieces and series to collect... Stay strong! 💪🏽😁

[CySterling]

1 hour ago, Petra said:

Wait until you see the 5oz ! The 2013 one looks amazing. Desperate to find a 10oz!

I can only imagine how good the bigger versions look! 

Sadly, although it might be a good thing in this instance, we don't have much in the way of coin shops or bullion dealers in Cyprus so I don't get to see one first hand 🙁

Good luck in your search