COMPLETED MY SET: MS69 Silver Britannias 1998-2009 (many pics)

[pendragon1998]

MS69 Great Britain £2 Silver Britannias

(1998 - 2009)

 

(I hope y'all will excuse me posting this in Numismatic Tangents rather than World. I wanted to share this with everybody, and I suspected some of you don't hit world very frequently.)

 

I've been working on this set of Silver Britannias in NGC / PCGS MS69 since November 2006. I finally completed the set today, with the arrival of my long sought-after 2007. I have worked a long time to get this collection to this point, and all along I've been determined not to compromise on coins of lower grade. I will continue to build this set by adding to it each year, but for the moment, I'm declaring it complete.

 

I hope you will all enjoy taking a look at these coins. Any peculiar lighting is an artifact of my semi-hemi-demi axial lighting technique (these coins are bears to image!) The dates below each one represent the date I acquired the coin.

 

-Michael

 

 

 

 

1998 NGC MS69 Silver Britannia

13 MAY 2008

 

 

1999 NGC MS69 Silver Britannia

20 NOV 2006

 

 

2000 NGC MS69 Silver Britannia

26 AUG 2007

 

 

2001 NGC MS69 Silver Britannia

20 NOV 2006

 

 

2002 PCGS MS69 Silver Britannia

03 JUN 2007

 

 

2003 NGC MS69 Silver Britannia

05 APR 2008

 

 

2004 NGC MS69 Silver Britannia

20 NOV 2006

 

 

2005 NGC MS69 Silver Britannia

20 NOV 2006

 

 

2006 PCGS MS69 Silver Britannia

11 MAR 2008

 

 

2007 NGC MS69 Silver Britannia

01 DEC 2009

 

 

2008 PCGS MS69 Silver Britannia

11 JUL 2008

 

 

2009 PCGS MS69 Silver Britannia

11 MAR 2009

 

 

[jesbroken]

Way to go, Michael. Congrats on a subperb collection. I truly love the 2004 and 2009.

Jim

[DC Dawg]

Way to go Michael. At least you had a better year than the Georgia football team!

 

BTW... where did you get the 2009 Britannia. I am looking for a nice raw coin but cannot find one (I found two graded coins but I would prefer raw).

 

Scott

[pendragon1998]

The 2009 came from a fellow Britannia collector on the PCGS forums. I believe he made two.

[James_OldeTowne]

Fabulous coins, wonderful artistry, outstanding images and an excellent presentation, wow, what more could you ask for? Very nice and thanks for sharing!

 

(thumbs u

[astrostu]

Congratulations!

[rrantique]

Fabulous coins, wonderful artistry, outstanding images and an excellent presentation, wow, what more could you ask for? Very nice and thanks for sharing!

 

(thumbs u

 

My thoughts exactly. (thumbs u

[L1ncolnF4n]

I love the "reverse proof"-like aspect of several of those...always caught my eye!

[Coindude]

Those are gorgeous. I hope these don't distract my collecting goals like the Kooks have!

[TomB]

This is a terrific accomplishment and likely far harder to do than those of us who have not attempted the set realize. That first representation of Britannia on the 1998 issue is simply spectacular.

[WinstonWare]

Great looking set (thumbs u

[pendragon1998]

Thanks, y'all. It's a pleasure to be able to share the results of so many years of searching.

[Schatzy]

Great looking set (thumbs u

 

Ditto (thumbs u

[IGWT]

Thanks for sharing your collection. Some of those reverse designs are awesome.

[Dwaine]

Nice set.

[RareSov]

Congrats, nice work. I think I will have to outdo your presentation IF I ever complete my gilt kookaburra set. That set is turning out to be excessively difficult. If I do it, look out

[hoard]

very nice. Why did they alternate reverses and then change altogether the last couple of years?

[pendragon1998]

The first designs 1998-2006 were by Phillip Nathan; the alternation of the designs was a move to attract people to collect the series, while continuing to include the classic Standing Britannia motif (which is an absolute classic which was used on earlier gold coins).

 

I don't closely follow Royal Mint (RM) politics, but as I understand it, In 2007, the RM and sculptor Philip Nathan stopped working together on the Britannia series. The assignment for the 2007 reverse was given to Christopher Le Brun and the 2008 reverse ('Defender of the Shores') was the responsibility of John Bergdahl. This year's issue, inexplicably reused Nathan's 'Britannia in her Chariot' motif, likening Britannia to Queen Boudica - a design previously used for the 1997 proof-only and 1999 BU-only issues. The 2009 design seems like a rush replacement to me.

 

Next year's 2010 "Serene Britannia" design (which I think is a move in the artistically right direction) is by Suzie Zamit, the first woman designer in the series.

 

 

By the way, the obverse portrait of Queen Elizabeth II (4th portrait; 1998-date) was designed by Ian Rank-Broadley in 1997.

 

 

I'm going to email the RM and see what kind of backstory they'll give me on the designer changes.

[coinsbygary]

Congratulations Micheal! You're at where I want to go! I must say putting a MS-69 set of these together is more difficult than I anticipated, but I'll keep plugging along one coin at a time until I get there. Next years version really looks cool, can't wait to get a 69 of that! Once again~~~Way to go!

Gary

[coinsbygary]

If anyone is interested in the 2010 Britannias, they are for sale at APMEX for 34.99.