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At first, the Romans referred to the group of islands of the coast of north-west Europe as “the Britanniae.” This included Albion (Great Britain), Hibernia (Ireland) and other smaller islands. Over time the term Britannia came into use to refer to the island of Great Britain and the use of “Britanniae” for the group of islands ceased. It would later be used as the name of the Roman Province which included most of the island. The area beyond the Antonine Wall belonged to the Picts and was known as Caledonia. Hadrion’s Wall was built close to the modern border between England and Scotland. Scotland was only occupied by Rome for about 20 years. Hibernia (Ireland) was never conquered by Rome. The term Britannia is said to be derived from “Pretannia,” which is itself a rendering of the indigenous name “Pretani” made by the Greek Historian Diodorus.
Britannia would eventually become a personification of Britain but not for some time. The Celtic goddess “Brigid” is one of the many sources of this. Britannia was not a female personification of the land until her appearance on coins issued under Emperor Hadrian. The coins showed a female figure labeled Britannia. Soon, she was personified as a goddess. Early portraits show her as a beautiful young woman wearing the helmet of a centurion, wrapped in a white garment with her right breast exposed. She was often seated on a rock, holding a spear, and had a spiked shield propped beside her.
During the Medieval period Britannia remained the Latin name for Great Britai n with post-Roman variations appearing which were sometimes popular. The term would also be used for the Armorican peninsula in France due to the high numbers of Britons that immigrated to the area from Cornwall. During this time, only the Brythonic Celtic inhabitants of the British Isles were thought of as Britons as opposed to the English. The English were increasingly included as Britons and this gained new meaning with the rise of the British Empire and increased British influence. In the Renaissance, Britannia finally came to be viewed as the personification of Britain in imagery developed under Queen Elizabeth I. As England, Scotland and Ireland were constitutionally united in the 18th century, Britannia became an increasingly important symbol and a rallying point for the unified nation. The power of the British Empire was the supremacy of the navy. Attributes were given to Britannia under Queen Victoria to renew the symbol. Britannia retained the Corinthian helmet and white robes, but was given a three-pronged trident in place of the spear, stood in the ocean as a symbol of the nation’s naval power and held a Greek hoplite shield which sported the flag of the British Union. A lion was usually at her feet. The animal is on the Coat of Arms of England, Scotland, and Wales. Due to the rise of Victorian era modesty and morality, Britannia no longer appeared bare-breasted.
Britannia had thus evolved into a figure for Britain that was analogous to Marianne in France and Lady Liberty in the United State s. Like Lady Liberty, Britannia is a powerful and highly patriotic symbol that becomes more common in times of war and like Liberty, Britannia is representative of British liberties and democracy.
The coins in this series are made out of Britannia Silver which has a fineness of 0.9584. The standard was introduced in 1697 by act of Parliament to replace sterling silver (0.925). The lion passant gardant which denoted sterling silver was replaced by the image of Britannia and the leapard’s head mark of the “Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths” was replaced by with a “lion’s head erased.” Sterling silver was again approved for use in 1720 but Britannia silver remained an optional standard. To make the fine silver weight of these coins equal to one troy ounce (31.1 g), the Silver Britannias weigh roughly 32.5 grams with the balance being copper as is typical with Britannia silver.
The issuance of these coins started in 1997 as a proof coin to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the gold bullion Britannias. The mintage of bullion strike Britannias started the next year in 1998. The maximum annual mintage of the coins is fixed at 100,000.
*This coin was sold to me by the NGC forum user Dooly. Thanks go to him for letting me have a great coin at a fair price.