Hmm, just saw this on apmex. It seems the new 2015 brit coins will have a diff surface texture. Funny how they have a disclaimer on the website "This photograph illustrates the quality of the coin(s) you will receive, not the exact item. Coin(s) will not have toning unless otherwise noted." Source: http://www.apmex.com/product/86219/2015-great-britain-1-oz-silver-britannia-bu-12-19
From another site- "The field on both sides of the coin has a dimpled effect, giving it a matte finish. We prefer this as it doesn't show any production marks which we've come to expect in previous years." Available around the 12th Dec.
Looks much better. Brings out the design more, I though thie current design looked too flat. I have one, and it didn't inspire me to buy more. Hopefully the gold version will be the same, I'd get one of those.
Probably still way too shiny? I really wish they'd try to get away from that. If they did, I'd buy more GB stuff.
The composition upgrade was a good move, but the Royal Mint wounded the Britannia when they changed the size and they broke my heart and killed it when they stopped changing the design. IMO the new background is immaterial. These days, the Britannia is just one more Non-American Silver Non-Eagle. I originally had hopes for the new RM Lunar series, but the Pokemon quality designs killed that hope. Oh, well...that's life. All the more money to put into Perth Lunars and Kooks (and may be just one single blindingly fugly 2015 Koala).
You had me until the Koala. But yeah, agree with everything else. That Lunar Horse is just awful -- and I "get" what they were trying to do & the inspiration for it. Still not a good idea. Spotting is an issue with those, too. Aside from the extreme shine, I rather like their Lunar Sheep.
I just ordered a few on pre-sale from JM. I like the Britannia coins, even the new ones, so I'm excited for mid Dec.
I avoid the Britannia bullion for the same reason...looks like a shiny, cheap, clad coin. For bullion coins, it's hard to beat some of the Perth Mint "reverse proof" quality...it's probably the same reason why in the secondary market PM bullion coins get higher premiums than many other bullion coins of the same weight and purity. That said, for 1 oz coins, I love the bullion Libertad's and I really like the 2014 silver CML. Incidentally, pre-sales have already started for the 2015 silver CML bullion coins. .
Either the Queen has picked up some nasty acne scars recently, or the Royal Mint needs to work on polishing their blanks properly.
That's the actual texture of her 60+ year old skin (or however old she was when they made that sculpt)! .
Got mine in today.. Nice improvement over the '14! The obverse seems a little too busy, but the reverse is way nicer now. Still somewhat too shiny, IMO, but I think this warrants more than one for me, heh.
I'm not so sure one of these could accurately do the job.. :lol: http://www.amazon.com/Kodak-EasyShare-CX6200-Digital-Camera/dp/B0000ACXZU The '15 is definitely nicer than the '14. Then again, that's not saying much, heh. It's not something I'd go ga-ga over, as there are nicer coins out there. But for a collector like me, it's worthy of a full max allocation (which isn't much!). Couldn't say the same about the '14. I'm sure there are some decent shots of it, either via Google Images, or YouTube..
For some reason I do not like this coin. IMHO the proof-like surface was better. Now the coin looks too complex.
Just like the 2015 pandas, perhaps these years will prove to be the "key" years in future. Definitely getting me some of these. Sometimes it pays to be contrarion to the crowd!
The obverse is a little too busy/complex. The "stucco" makes it too messy when reading the type-set, and the hair & crown sort of blends into it too much. The reverse is where the improvement is, IMO. The 2014 is just way too "flat" & shiny & cheap-looking, in comparison.
