Sorry if already posted, but i'm a sucker for Britannias so i had to buy a roll of these. Supposedly this is the first year of the new series. Merit Gold is supposedly the exclusive distributor but they have a $1500 minimum order - there prices seem very low...though I have heard horror stories about their customer service. They are rim struck with a series of snakes. Ebay/apmex run around $35-$40 per coin, which is high; I kept my eyes open and got mine for $28.75 per. Definitely still a premium but I equate these to collector/proof coins. I'm hoping the quality control disaster on the regular '13 Britannias has not carried over, but will post back to let everyone know. Just wanted to give a heads up...
You say Meritgold has major customer service issues, please elaborate. I am thinking about doing a major purchase from them in the near future due to their prcing being so good, but they told me that its a month long wait to get your product because they buy the silver from someone else for you. They don't store it, thats how they are able to keep the pricing down. they are like middle men. they get a percentage for processing the order.
Provident Metals has them for about $25. TC http://www.providentmetals.com/2013-1-oz-britannia-999-fine-silver.html
Those are regular silver Britannia's; these the new lunar stamped collectables (see the rim of the coin fro the difference the standard ones are reeded and the lunar ones are smooth and stamped with a snake symbol). SCFY: I have never deal with Merit personally, and based the complaints I saw, I would have no problem trying them out, but they do have a good number of complaints, deserved or not. Most seem to center around shipping time, the when the purchase price is actually locked in, and lastly the aggressiveness of their sales force in trying to upsell. I believe you can order from their website but they don't actually lock the price in until you speak/confirm with a rep. If you know all three of these things going in, then I don't think they are that big of a deal personally, but again, I have not direct experience with them.
The 2013 design is the same as the 2012 design. No thanks. I thought the Britannia had a rotating design program that ran over the course of 10 or 12 years. What are they trying to do, become dull and uncreative like the Silver Eagle? Also, the incused snake striking seems to me a pretty gimmicky way to obtain a premium for an otherwise snoozer of a coin. The whole thing reminds me of the highly-overpriced 1.5 ounce Canada Polar Bear some dealers were and are hawking at a ridiculous premium.
