I just purchased a legacies of Freedom set off of eBay, which includes the 2002 Silver Britannia. I understand that there were approx. 48K minted, but the US mint says that they sold approx. 50K Legacies of Freedom sets. Were there a Total of 98K minted (48K for UK distribution and 50K for US Mint sales), or were there 48K total minted and none distributed in the UK? :rollling: I'm surprised that the two silver ounce Legacies of Freedom set doesn't sell for much over spot considering the low mintage of the Silver Britannia coin with a ASE. Anyone know why? I just paid $80 for the two coin set, which is my second set, the first set I paid $53 a few months ago.
The coin in the set a special reverse proof I don't think it's included in the number of regular minted 2002's. So in essence I believe that 98k were minted also. I have one of these sets myself and the reverse proof Britannia really puts the ASE to shame it's such a beautiful coin. I think the Royal mint actually produced these coins after 2002 also as they have some law or something where they are allowed to produce up to the max number of coins that were approved for a years mintage even if not minted in the same year I believe. Probably why this set came to be as a way to make up for the low regular mintage numbers during 2002 as I believe this set was actually released in Jan 2004.
This set is interesting to me: 1. The US Mint maximum production limit was 50,000, but how many were actually sold? 2. Is the 2002 Britannia coin in the set actually a reverse proof and not the same BU bullion Britannia coin issued in 2002? I wonder if anyone has ever compared them side-by-side. 3. This set was issued in 2004. Why did it include a 2003 ASE and a 2002 Britannia? TC
1) No idea on that one, I believe the Britannia in this set was produced only for this set and not released separately but I can't find any info on if they sold all 50,000 units. Perhaps past U.S. Mint sales data could be located with this info? 2) 3)January 28, 2004 release date for the set originally so I don't think they had time to package,etc using 2004 ASE's. The interesting part about the Britannia from the U.S. Mint press release 'The Britannia Silver Coin, considered to be in “uncirculated” condition by the British Royal Mint, is what the United States Mint designates as a “reverse proof” finish, with a mirror-like image and frosted background. Production of the 2002 £2 Britannia is limited to a maximum mintage of 100,000 coins. Unlike United States coins, whose minting and issuance must cease at years’ end, the British Royal Mint may continue to issue 2002 Britannias until this maximum mintage has been reached.' So I guess the UK can mint in any year as long as they don't exceed the years predetermined max mintage. The mintage figures for the 2002 Britannia are 48,816,Standing Britannia and where I got this info there is no proof mintage figure listed for that year http://www.silverbullionworld.com/britanniamintage.html Anyways the Britannia in this set is absolutely stunning, my quick photos don't really do the coin justice at all.
I picked out a 2002 & a 2006 Brittania that both seem to be reverse proof designs (a 2013 is shown for comparison). Are these included in the proof or the incirculated issue numbers for these years?
The earlier Britannias were "standard", or came as reverse proof coins. I too wonder about Britannia mintages as if you look hard enough, there seem to be all sorts of different numbers. I wish we could get confirmation as to the Royal Mint's ability to strike coins in subsequent years up to mintage limits and if there is any limit to this as far as how much later they can be struck. I guess the rarest currency would have to be the 2001 but am not sure at all.
