British Gold Coins

British Gold Bullion Coins

Gold is the most coveted investment metal for those looking to protect their hard-earned wealth. You can purchase gold products from various mints around the globe, and in different forms. There are gold coins and bars available from private and sovereign facilities alike, and the Royal Mint is among the most popular producers of gold products. Below you can find a complete rundown of the British Gold Coins available from JM Bullion.

British Gold Britannia Coins

Without question, the gold bullion program that anchors the Royal Mint numismatic offerings is the British Gold Britannia coin. The official gold bullion coin of the United Kingdom was introduced in 1987 with a gold content of .917 fine gold. Since 2013, the coins have been struck as 24-karat pure gold coins with .9999 fine gold content. Like its silver counterpart, the British Gold Britannia coins are celebrating a milestone in 2017 having reached their 30^th anniversary of release. Highlights of the modern Gold Britannia include:

• Ships in an individual plastic capsule, mint tube of 10 coins, or box of 100.
• Contains 1 Troy oz. of .9999 pure gold in BU condition.
• Face value of 100 (GBP) is fully backed by Britain’s government.

As the Gold Britannia is from the same program as the Silver Britannia, and was in fact the design basis for the latter, the gold coins in this collection have the same design concepts as the silver coins and have also only seen changes in the design of the obverse portrait of Queen Elizabeth II over time. Details include:

• On the reverse of the British Gold Britannia Coin, you’ll find the image of Britannia, which has featured on the coins unchanged for the last 30 years. Britannia originally featured on sovereign coins in the early 18th century at the formation of the United Kingdom between England and Scotland.
• The obverse of British Gold Britannia Coins issued from 2016-2022 includes the new fifth-generation depiction of Queen Elizabeth II. Her Majesty’s effigy was last updated in 1998 by Ian Rank-Broadley, but in 2015 the Royal Mint unveiled a new image of the Queen from 33-year-old Jody Clark, the youngest engraver and artist ever to complete her portrait.
• As of 2023, His Majesty King Charles III features on British Gold Britannias. This design was created by Martin Jennings and flips the orientation of the monarch effigy to left-profile relief, a traditional change when a new monarch ascends to the throne. Additionally, His Majesty is shown without a crown, another traditional change for male monarchs.

Unique Britannia Coins

Like other coin programs, there are occasionally opportunities for investors and collectors to nab the Gold Britannia with unique design finishes that increase the collectible value of the original product. Among these, you’ll find the 2016 British Gold Britannia Monkey Privy Edge coin.

On the reverse face of the coin is the image of Britannia, fabled guardian of the United Kingdom. She is featured wearing a Corinthian helmet, holding a trident in her right hand to control the seas, and a shield with the Union Jack emblazoned on it in her left hand. Along the milled edge of these Gold Britannias you’ll find a privy mark honoring the Year of the Monkey on the Chinese Lunar Calendar. The first privy mark on the milled edge of a Britannia occurred in 2013 on the silver variant, and came to the Gold Britannia in 2014 for the Year of the Horse, which makes this the third version for the gold coin.

More recently, the Royal Mint launched a 30^th anniversary British Gold Britannia coin to mark the original release of these special gold bullion products. The Royal Mint is celebrating two anniversaries for the Britannia program in 2017. The Gold Britannia leads the way in this stunning series with its 30^th anniversary, but the Silver Britannia coin marks its 20^th anniversary this year with a celebratory release of its own.

Included on the reverse side of both versions of the coin in 2017 is a mint mark that honors the anniversary of the individual programs. Located to the bottom-left of Britannia’s image you’ll find the head of a trident with a “3” and “0” between the spikes, commemorating the 30^th anniversary of this famous coin.

For the 30^th anniversary of the gold coins, the Royal Mint has increased the security of the coins with new protection features. You’ll notice a new high-security radial sunburst emanating from the background field that helps better deter counterfeiting efforts.

MintID Gold Britannias

The British Gold Britannia is one of the world’s leading gold bullion coins. Produced by the Royal Mint of England annually from 1987, 2020 brought with it a new, secure form of the Britannia. However, it wasn’t the fields of the coin that changed in 2020, but rather the ability to purchase the coins in a new MintID blistercard.

MintID uses the latest in NFC microchip and encryption technology to deliver secure bullion for investors. The 2020 British Gold Britannia Coins with MintID packaging are BU specimens from the Royal Mint Series. The coins are housed in a capsule at the center of the blistercard. The blue blistercard from MintID has an NFC microchip built into the card. The microchip is tamper-evident and will “die” if it is tampered with in any way. Chips that have been tampered with render an invalid result when scanned. All microchips are encrypted with 128-bit encryption and connect to just one, unique profile in the cloud.

You can instantly authenticate your Gold Britannia with the MintID app. You don’t need to provide any sensitive personal or financial information to use the MintID app. Simply open the app and press your phone up against the NFC microchip on the card to instantly authenticate the coins.

The Gold Coins of the Shengxiao Series

If you’re looking to buy gold, the Royal Mint has more than just its flagship bullion offering. Launched in 2014, the Shengxiao Series from the Royal Mint is an increasingly popular series celebrating the Chinese Lunar Calendar. Each year, the coins in the program feature the new animal in the Zodiac represent a particular year on the lunar calendar.

Coins released to date in the Shengxiao Series include the Year of the Horse, Year of the Goat, and Year of the Monkey gold coins. All Royal Mint gold coins consist of .9999 pure gold, with face values listed in Great British Pounds (£ GBP), and share common obverse imagery of Queen Elizabeth II’s right-profile image.

Coins released prior to the 2016 year of issue in this collection feature Ian Rank-Broadley’s 1998 image of the Queen, while post-2016 coins have the new Jody Clark design released in 2015. All reverse designs in the Shengxiao Series from the Royal Mint were designed by British-Chinese artist Wuon-Gean Ho, and each one is completely unique from other lunar coin series produced at other mints around the globe. Currently, the following designs are available from the Royal Mint’s gold Shengxiao Series:

• 2014 British Gold Year of the Horse
• 2015 British Gold Year of the Sheep
• 2016 British Gold Year of the Monkey Coin
• 2017 British Gold Year of the Rooster Coin
• 2018 British Gold Year of the Dog
• 2019 British Gold Year of the Pig
• 2020 British Gold Year of the Rat

The Gold Coins of the Queen’s Beast Collection

This exciting series of silver and gold coins from the Royal Mint marks the newest release of numismatic or bullion coins from the mint. The British Queens Beast Coin program is a planned 10-design series that features new designs for each of the animals featured in the coronation ceremony of Queen Elizabeth II. The British Queens Beast coin series features a 1 oz gold coin, a 1/4 oz gold coin, as well as the Royal Mint’s first-ever 2 oz silver bullion coin. Subsequent additions include the 10 oz silver and 1 oz platinum coins in the bullion range as well.

First in the collection is the 2016 Queen’s Beast Lion coin, available in all three versions mentioned above. In the British monarchy’s heraldic shield, the lion plays a significant role. The position of the lion determines the mood and attitude of the monarch at the time, or in special situations. For example, when the lion is featured in a passant position it is considered to be walking and is shown with just its right fore paw raised off the ground.

Similar to the Britannia program, the Queen’s Beast Lion coins feature the same obverse and reverse designs on the coins regardless of silver or gold content. Design specifics are as follows:

• On the obverse is the all-new right-profile portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. The fifth version of Her Majesty’s effigy on British coins, this portrait was created in 2015 by Jody Clark. At just 33 years old, Clark is the youngest artist to create a depiction of Her Majesty, and he also created the “Lion of England” design on the reverse.
• 2016 Lion of England
• 2017 Griffin of Edward III
• 2017 Red Dragon of Wales
• 2018 Unicorn of Scotland
• 2019 Falcon of the Plantagenets
• 2019 Yale of Beaufort
• 2020 White Lion of Mortimer
• 2020 White Horse of Hanover
• 2021 White Greyhound of Richmond

The Gold Coins of the British Legends of Music Series

Introduced in 2020, the Royal Mint of England debuted a series of collectible and investment-grade silver and gold coins honoring the legendary musical acts that have come from Britain. The series offers a wide range of options, but when it comes to the gold coins for sale in the series, the primary option is a 1 oz gold coin. The 1 oz gold coins have 1 Troy oz of .9999 pure gold in Brilliant Uncirculated condition. The coins ship in individual protective plastic capsules and have a limited mintage of only 2,500 coins. Each one has a face value of 100 Pound sterling (GBP) backed by the government of Britain.

The coins all have the same obverse design element, that of Queen Elizabeth II. Since 2016, the Royal Mint has featured Jody Clark’s fifth-generation effigy of Her Majesty in right-profile relief. In this design, the Queen wears the George IV State Diadem Crown. The background field includes a guilloche visual element with inscriptions of “100 Pounds,” “Elizabeth II,” and “D.G. Reg. F.D.”

As for the reverse design elements that represent the series, the collection has two designs available through 2020:

• 2020 British Music Legends Queen
• 2020 British Music Legends Elton John
• 2021 British Music Legends David Bowie
• 2021 British Music Legends The Who
• 2022 British Music Legends The Rolling Stones

The Gold Coins of the Royal Arms Series

In 2019, the Royal Mint of England introduced a coin with the image of the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom on the reverse. Known simply as the Royal Arms, this emblem is the official seal of both the United Kingdom and the monarch ruling over the kingdom. The modern Royal Arms of England is carried by Queen Elizabeth II, monarch of England since 1952 and the longest-reigning monarch in the history of England.

On the obverse side of British Gold Royal Arms Coins is the fifth-generation bust of Queen Elizabeth II. Designed by Jody Clark in 2015, the image shows the Queen in right-profile relief and has been in use on British coins since the release of 2016 date marks.

The reverse field of the British Gold Royal Arms Coins includes an image of the modern Royal Arms of England in use since 1837 and the reign of Queen Victoria. Designed by Timothy Noad, this design offers a crowned shield that is quartered. The quadrants include the coat of arms of England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The first and fourth quadrants have the Three Lions of England, the second quadrant the Lion of Scotland, and the third quadrant the Harp of Ireland. The Imperial State Crown is above the shield with the Lion of England supporting the shield on the left and the Unicorn of Scotland on the right.

Options in the British Gold Royal Arms Coin debuted with a 1 oz gold coin in 2019 and gained an additional option 2020 with the debut of a 1/10 oz gold coin.

Background on the Royal Mint

Originally founded as the London Mint in 886, the British Royal Mint is one of the oldest operating facilities in the world. Throughout its history, the Royal Mint has produced some of the most widely used coins in the world, due in large part to the size and scope of the former British Empire. Coins from the Royal Mint were once used from North America to Europe, Australia, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Today, the Royal Mint remains one of the foremost facilities in the world. The most popular product from the mint is the sovereign Britannia coin. On the reverse face of each coin is the image of the mythical Britannia, a goddess from Roman times who was believed to have watched over the nation. She is featured on each Silver Britannia coin with a trident in one hand and a shield bearing the Union Jack flag of the United Kingdom, her eyes constantly fixed on the English Channel separating the British Isles from mainland Europe.

Buying British Gold Coins from JM Bullion

Many of these British Gold Coins are available to you on an annual basis from the Royal Mint of England. If you have any questions about the British Gold Coins available here, please don’t hesitate to ask. JM Bullion customer service is available to answer your questions at 800-276-6508, online through our live chat, and via our email address. If you have questions about payment methods, please consider reading through our Payment Methods FAQ page for more information.