How much is a Britannia worth?
Specification
| Gross weight | 31.103 g |
|---|---|
| Fineness | 999.9 (99.99%) |
| Fine gold content | 31.1 g |
| Fine gold, troy oz | 1 |
| Diameter | 32.69 mm |
| Mint | The Royal Mint |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Face value | GBP 100 |
| First issued | 1987 |
About this coin
Purity changed partway through its life: Britannias struck from 1987 to 2012 are 22 carat, and those from 2013 onward are .9999. A pre-2013 coin therefore has a different gross weight for the same gold content, so check the date before weighing one.
Two coins share one name
Britannia has stood on British coinage since the reign of Charles II, and the bullion coin bearing her arrived in 1987 as a 22-carat piece alloyed the traditional way. In 2013 the Royal Mint quietly rebuilt it as .9999 fine. Same name, same one troy ounce of gold, different metal in hand: a 1987-2012 Britannia weighs 34.05 grams gross; a modern one weighs 31.10. Check the date before assuming which coin you hold - both are exactly one ounce of fine gold, so the melt value is identical, but buyers verify them differently.
The most security-engineered coin in the mainstream
Since 2021 the Britannia has carried four visible security devices at once: a latent image that flips between a padlock and a trident as the coin tilts, fine radial sunburst lines, micro-text, and wave patterns behind the figure. The Royal Mint calls it the most visually secure bullion coin in the world, and whether or not the superlative holds, the practical effect is real - a counter check on a modern Britannia takes seconds. For UK residents its legal-tender status also exempts gains from capital gains tax, which is why British sellers cling to them; that particular advantage does not cross the Atlantic.
How this size compares
| Fine gold | 31.103 g |
|---|---|
| In troy ounces | 1 ozt |
| In pennyweights | 20 dwt |
| Equal to | 4.25 gold sovereigns |
| Bars per kilo | 32.15 of these make one kilo of gold |
Questions people ask
- How much is a Britannia worth today?
- Its gold content is worth $4,125.39 at the current spot price of $4,125.39 per troy ounce. That is the melt value - it contains 1 troy ounces of fine gold. A dealer will pay under this figure when buying and charge over it when selling. Modern Britannias are four nines; pre-2013 ones are not, and the date decides which arithmetic applies.
- How much does a Britannia weigh?
- 31.103 grams gross at 999.9 fineness, which is 31.1 grams of actual gold. The gross weight is what your scale reads; the fine weight is what it is worth.
- Who makes the Britannia and is it legal tender?
- It is struck by the The Royal Mint in United Kingdom, first issued in 1987. It carries a face value of GBP 100, which is symbolic - the gold in it is worth many times that.
- My Britannia weighs 34 grams, not 31 - is it fake?
- Almost certainly the opposite: it is a pre-2013 coin, struck at 22 carat, so it carries alloy on top of its full ounce of gold. 34.05 grams gross is the correct weight for those dates. From 2013 the coin is .9999 fine and weighs 31.10 grams.
- What is the padlock I can see on my Britannia at an angle?
- The latent security image, added in 2021 - it alternates between a padlock and Britannia's trident as the coin tips. Together with the radial lines and micro-text it is the fastest authenticity check in mainstream bullion.
- How current is this valuation?
- It is calculated live from the spot price, currently $4,125.39 per troy ounce from swissquote, read at 18:45 UTC. Nothing on this page is a cached daily figure.