It is unprecedented—I've just received a coin from Britain's Royal Mint that still leaves me scratching my head. This strange coin has flown by completely under the radar. It isn't in any coin catalog. In fact, officially, it doesn't even exist. Yet, here it is, right in front of me!

It's a rare 2011 One—Ounce Silver Britannia. Unlike the 500,000 regular Britannia's issued this year, it has a special and rarely—used Matte finish—and only 2,337 were minted!

Only 2,337? That can't possibly be right. That's less than one half of one percent of the entire mintage!

There are more original Picasso's in the world… Each year there are more Ferraris built…more Chateau Laffite bottled…more super yachts launched. But here, on my desk, is the entire world mintage of these remarkable coins?

It's true. The reason why this Britannia isn't on the radar is because it was a mysterious test mintage and I HAVE EVERY ONE. The tale of how I got them involves a trip to London, a buttered scone, and a ...

More >>

It is unprecedented—I've just received a coin from Britain's Royal Mint that still leaves me scratching my head. This strange coin has flown by completely under the radar. It isn't in any coin catalog. In fact, officially, it doesn't even exist. Yet, here it is, right in front of me!

It's a rare 2011 One—Ounce Silver Britannia. Unlike the 500,000 regular Britannia's issued this year, it has a special and rarely—used Matte finish—and only 2,337 were minted!

Only 2,337? That can't possibly be right. That's less than one half of one percent of the entire mintage!

There are more original Picasso's in the world… Each year there are more Ferraris built…more Chateau Laffite bottled…more super yachts launched. But here, on my desk, is the entire world mintage of these remarkable coins?

It's true. The reason why this Britannia isn't on the radar is because it was a mysterious test mintage and I HAVE EVERY ONE. The tale of how I got them involves a trip to London, a buttered scone, and a fortunately—timed cell phone call.

A fateful call from the mint press room.
Just a few months ago, I flew to London for meetings with the Royal Mint regarding the upcoming London 2012 Olympic Games. On my second day of meetings, we took a short tea break. I sat with the mint director and enjoyed some hot buttered scones as we looked out on an unusually sunny London afternoon. In the midst of our pleasant small talk, the mint director's cell phone suddenly went off. It was his press supervisor calling from the Royal Mint's coin striking facility. And he had some surprising news for his boss.

You see, the mint was in the midst of striking their 2011 Silver Britannia coins — one of the most respected and popular silver coin series in the entire world. In the process of striking the thousands of coins, some 2,337 of them had been discovered to not match the rest. Why? No one really knew — but the particular dies that had been used to strike these 2,337 coins had produced a velvety Matte finish, unlike the shiny appearance of the regular Britannia issue.

Now, over the course of its over 1,000 year history, the Royal Mint had struck Matte finish coins before. In fact, in 1902 the Royal Mint struck a Matte finish silver crown—five years before the U.S. mint produced their first Matte finish coin. And while Matte finish coins were hugely popular with collectors, they were certainly not very common.

After hearing the stunning news, the mint director immediately began to ask questions. His supervisor confirmed that, when the Matte Finish Britannias were discovered, they had been closely examined. After all, no matter how it happened, the Royal Mint now had a very low mintage coin with a very special and desirable finish. When they determined that the overall quality of these 2011 Matte Finish Britannias was nothing less than spectacular, the question on the mind of the director was simple: What to do with these fabulous coins?

I set down my scone and made a proposal on the spot.

What do you do with a coin that doesn't exist? I knew that my best clients would absolutely jump at the opportunity to own a 2011 Matte Finish Silver Britannia — especially when the 2,337 in existence represented less than a half a percent of the total 2011 mintage. It was an instant rarity! Of course, I also knew that my old friend was too smart for me to play any games with him. So I simply laid out the truth.

I reminded him that U.S. collectors love Matte finish coins. As an example, I pointed out that the U.S. Mint sold 62,000 Matte Finish Kennedy Half Dollars in 1998—more than 25 times more coins than these Matte Finish Britannias—and that American collectors bought every one. In fact, today they're more desirable than ever. That Matte Finish 1998 Kennedy Half Dollar was originally issued in a two—piece set that cost $59.95. The single Matte finish coin alone is now valued at $275. And that 1902 Matte Finish Silver Crown I mentioned earlier had a mintage of 15,000—six and a half times as many as the Matte Finish Silver Britannia. Today, its catalog value today is around $450.

I took a deep breath and told him that I desperately wanted to bring this amazing silver rarity back to the United States and I immediately agreed to buy the entire mintage, sight unseen. After an agonizing few minutes of thought, he picked up his cell phone, called back to his office and informed them that the entire 2011 Matte Finish Britannias were to be reserved for me!

A certified silver rarity
When the coins arrived back in the States, I carefully examined the Britannias. I could see the quality was phenomenal! I sent every one to Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC), where some of the Britannias received the near—perfect grade of MS69. NGC also authorized the coins to receive a special label designating each as one of only 2,337 2011 Matte Finish Britannias struck. .

When you consider the pedigree of these 'nonexistent' coins that actually do exist, I think you'll agree that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to obtain a coin that is destined to take its place as perhaps one of the scarcest Silver Britannias ever minted!

I'll be honest: I'm keeping 10 for myself — but I have reserved the remaining coins for only our very best clients. That's right, for the next few days, you can get this scarce and historic issue—for an unbelievable price! But once they are gone…they are gone forever