To realize the tremendous choices and issues provided by coin collecting within the UK we have to realise the span of time the Royal Mint has been running.
The very first London Mint was created in 886. Think of so much coinage! In 1279 (approx) it was moved to the Tower of London, and survived there well over 500 years, Sir Isaac Newton took over as the warden in the Mint and subsequently developed into Master of the Royal Mint till the time he passed away in 1727. In 1968 the Royal Mint was moved from London to Llantrisant in South Wales.
Before decimalisation in the UK (1971) the more typically utilised commemorative coin had been the crown. They have been used to commemorate coronations and state funerals.
In 1987 The Royal Mint made the decision to go into the bullion market with coins and brought out the Britannia. These sell for just a little premium over the gold and silver (silver unveiled in 1997) market price and may be a great way to speculate in the gold market long term, but many serious gold investors that like to keep tangible gold may decide to keep bars given that the premium is lower. However trading with Britannia coins is usually a much easier experience than dealing with gold bars.
Britannia gold coins comprise of a single troy ounce of gold and to begin with possessed a ‘face value’ of one hundred pounds. This has been appreciably overtaken at present - presently transacting in the region of 1185.00 (2011-11)
They’re also offered in half, quarter and even a 10th of an ounce weights.
Despite the fact that Britannia is not commonly considered to be a commemorative coin the layout on the obverse of the coin often varies and early editions may echo that through their re-sale pricing. In any case some would claim that the Britannia has become the ultimate contemporary commemorative.
A really quite tricky array of grades are used to value old coins and it also differs from nation to nation. Below is the UK’s grading approach. The percentage mentioned signifies the amount of the pattern still existing on the coin.
Good 10%: legible but seriously worn.
Very Good 25%: still significant deterioration and only collectible if a scarce coin.
Fine 50%: only fine details lacking starting to retain collectible value.
Very Fine 75%: has been used in circulation but is of good condition.
Extremely Fine 90%: Minting lustre remains and very small quantities of wear if any.
Uncirculated 100%: absolutely no circulation but could possibly have evidence of being bagged along with other coins.
Brilliant Uncirculated 100%: (BU): just like the above but with full lustre.
Brilliant uncirculated is commonly known as FDC taken from the French grading system
FDC 100%: a really wonderful coin, no marking or friction evidence keeping full lustre. FDC is an acronym for ‘Fleur de Coin’.
For a newbies guide to coin collecting please visit commemorative coins for lots of material on how to start coin collecting