A new bullion coin features British lore. The coin is titled Una and the Lion. It features the Princess Una walking beside the lion. The theme, according to the Pobjoy Mint that produces the coin is based on the poem by Edmund Spencer titled Faerie Queen, which follows the story of Saint George slaying the dragon. The tale has the rescue of Princess Una from the dragon as the reason the dragon had to be slain in the first place. The tale continues with Princess Una meeting the lion, a beast that would become her companion. While there is no direct connection between the lion in the tale of Una and the Lion of England stated, it seems they could have a similar meaning of a fierce protector. And could there possibly be a connection lost to us by time?
Coin Features British History and Lore
A new coin titled Una and the Lion combines the two-hundredth anniversary of Queen Victoria's birth and the poem Faerie Queen.
Una and the Lion
The Coin Design
The coin depicts a young Una walking with her lion companion to her right. The image was designed by William Wyon in the nineteenth century. The image of Una used Queen Victoria as its model when Queen Victoria was at the young age of nineteen.
The motto on the coin, Dieu Et Mon Droit translates God on my right. This is the motto of the British Monarch. God as the protector can be easily seen symbolized in the lion as the protector of Una, walking symbolically on her right.
The obverse of the coin features the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II.
The design does not match earlier coins by the Royal Mint that featured Una and the lion exactly, but it does capture the essence of the images used in the past.
Una and the Lion
Historical
This coin that used queen Victoria’s image as Princess Una is being released in January, 2019. It is no accident that this is the bicentennial of the birth of Queen Victoria. In fact, the Pobjoy Mint points this out in the description of the related coin set.
Una and the Lion
Coin Specifications
The release date is planned to be January 25, 2019. The coin is being struck with a reverse frosted finish. Each coin is one-ounce of 0.999 fine silver. The coin is rated bullion, but it is being minted with a rather low mintage of only fifty thousand pieces. The denomination of each coin is one dollar.
This coin is being struck for the British Virgin Islands by the Pobjoy Mint. As a bullion coin it will join the highly desirable Pegasus, the standing series of bullion coins of the British Virgin Islands.
Watch for a possible future release of a two-coin set that also contains a proof coin. An email announcing the set came forth, but it was quickly rescinded. It is hard to believe the mint has an image of a set that will not be released. Probably the information was premature,
Una and the Lion Coin
Older coins may appear here as well as current coins.
New Bullion Coins Are Appearing
In 2018 there were numerous bullion coins minted, some with low mintages. Already, a new bullion series has appeared in 2019, the Bottlenose Dolphin Australian coin.
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Comments
Coin value for bullion should be close to the price of the precious metal it contains. This is rated bullion by the Pobjoy Mint, and the pre-sale prices are acceptable for bullion. However, the low mintage gives the coin a potential for gaining value beyond bullion value more so than higher minted pieces. Several hundred thousand or even unlimited are not uncommon mintages.
blackspanielgallery, Thank you for the practicalities and products. Where you say that "The coin is rated bullion, but it is being minted with a rather low mintage of only fifty thousand pieces," what would be an expected, medium or high mintage?