We had a good look at the new 2017 lunar Year of the Rooster coins from the Royal Mint when we featured the proof range a short while ago. We all knew the bullion coins were coming and so they have. No real changes to the range – it’s a one ounce gold and a one ounce silver, both with restricted mintage and both sold individually, or in bulk via tubes or monster boxes.

This article was just to be a recap of the bullion variants but in amongst the images was one of the usual lunar privy version of the Britannia that’s come out for even longer than the lunar range has. No big deal we thought, it’s a bullion Britannia with a repeating edge engraving showing the current lunar animal. Then we noticed something different…

It’s the first time we’ve seen the 2017 bullion Britannia, and we weren’t expecting any changes to the familiar Philip Nathan design. The ‘crinkle’ finish introduced in 2015 took over from the clean look that was used prior to that, and for 2017 that remains on the obverse face. The reverse is new. A radiating pattern of a type similar to that used on the Royal Canadian Mint’s Silver Maple Leaf coins over the last couple of years has debuted. No doubt introduced as an anti-counterfeiting measure, it looks superb, an easy upgrade on prior looks, and giving the coin a much classier look.

We’ll know shortly if we’ve jumped the gun and this is just a change for the edge privy variant (unlikely), but it appears this could be the first look at a new Britannia design. No indication yet if the gold will be similarly upgraded, but it’s hard to believe that won’t be the case. More soon, hopefully with better images. Beautiful coin before, better now. Top marks.