Britannia Sacked.
 

I’m a bit surprised that the patriots on here haven’t had anything to say about Britannia being sacked from the 50 pence piece. It has been reported that Gordon Brown is in favour of ditching Britannia in favour of some other symbol. I understand that this will happen in April but the new design has not been published – yet.

According to the font of all knowledge – Wikipedia – Britannia in one form or another has appeared on a British coin since Hadrian was building his wall. Actually it was probably a Roman coin issued by Hadrian but that is splitting hairs.

Quote
Early portraits of the goddess depict Britannia as a beautiful young woman, wearing the helmet of a Centurion, and wrapped in a white garment with her right breast exposed. She is usually shown seated on a rock, holding a spear, and with a spiked shield propped beside her. Sometimes she holds a standard and leans on the shield. On another range of coinage, she is seated on a globe above waves:
Unquote.

Britannia first appeared on a British coin – the farthing and the halfpenny – in 1672. Then between 1797 and 1970 she adorned the reverse of the humble pre decimal penny and on the post decimal 50 pence piece since 1969.

Since 1987 you could buy a British Bullion Gold Coin, at a face value of £100. I suppose that it will be much more today. The latest price of gold is around $925 per Troy ounce, although it fluctuates quite wildly. A few days ago it was $880 and a few days before that it was up at $920.

However the British Bullion Gold Coin is not minted in pure gold (24 carat) but a mixture of 24 carat gold (91.7%) and silver (8.3%)

All information cribbed from Wikipedia.

Sorry! I’ve drifted off the main subject and that is the demise of Britannia on our coins.

That is absolutely diabolical. Britannia is a symbol of Britishness. This is just another sly move to blend us in with the Euro.

I seem to remember that one of our coins had a circle of hands on the reverse. I have it in my head that is was the 50 pence but it couldn’t have been otherwise it would have been mentioned somewhere.

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

I lost interest in Britannia when big chinned Aussie opera diva, Joan Sutherland, dressed up as her for the Proms.

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

Brittania is a depiction of the queen Boudica of the Iceni tribe in East Anglia at the time of the roman invasion
No way can she be a historic national symbol for the UK

PS up here in Brigantia we had our own queen - Cartimandua

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

...though I agree, I think she should still be on our coins.

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

Another step towards a multicultural society, the bare right breast probably offends aomebody!

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

heard about this on the new! they want to see it replaced with a representation of modern Britain.

what ya think
http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/200...01_468x548.jpg:rolleyes:

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

The Daily Mail has a petition, and is running a campaign to keep Britannia on our coinage.

Sign our petition to stop Brown's plan to remove Britannia from our 50p coin | the Daily Mail

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

Why are you so sentimental about your misconceptions of early celtic history in this country - which wasn't even a country at the time she lived

I repeat in case you missed it-
Brittania is a depiction of the queen Boudica of the Iceni tribe in East Anglia at the time of the roman invasion
No way can she be a historic national symbol for the UK

PS up here in Brigantia we had our own queen - Cartimandua

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

There's a history of Britannia's image on coins on this site.

Britannia on British Coins

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

As a republican I'd rather have a fearsome Essex girl on my coins, than the German hausfrau who is on the other side.:D

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

Because most people are ignorant of our history before the romans and misquidedly think she is nationally symbolic

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

Isn't it just another example of dumming our history down. It has been widely reported today both in the press and on TV. that children are being taught that its wrog to be proud of Britain, because our history is morally corrupt. This is in a report from the University of London Institute of Edcation, researchers Michael Hand and Jo Pearce said Briatain should not be "loved" becauseit is guilty of dodgy acts in the past. So it looks like sod off Nelson, Drake and company we don't want kids to know about your efforts which made our country great. well I've only two words to say to pratts like that and the second one is OFF

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

Is is not our history - see my previous post :rolleyes:
It is a misconception of our history

PS MAP OF CELTIC TRIBES IN BRITAIN

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

Every country has a 'dodgy' past. For instance there was a well established slave trade in the Middle East and Africa, before a white foot was ever planted there.

We should be proud of our history, and if people don't like it, and try to pretend it never happened, then they should pack their bags and go and live in a place with a guilt free historical past, which probably means they can only go to Antartica.

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

I am all for people learning their history (celtic history is my hobby)
BUT AT LEAST GET IT RIGHT!!!!!!!

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

I bet our 'Britanny' would win that French Marianne in a fight any day.:D

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

Are they getting it wrong?

I was always taught that Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni, was the inspiration for the image of Britannia.

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

Yes - and we were Brigantes - our queen was Cartimandua

Now why should an Essex girl be as revered as the German housewife :D

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

According to this she was from the wrong side of the Pennines, in which case you can genuflect infront of her alone. I'll stick with the Essex girl.:D


United Kingdom Heads of State with pictures

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

Seem to remember when I was a youngster it was a bit of kids game to allways look thru any pile of 'old' pennies to see if you could find an Honolulu penny ( On her Lulu) it featured Britannia holding her trident in an 'unseemly' position, seems the coins were only struck for a couple of years . :eek: :eek:

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

Was that Lulu, ancient Queen of the Gorbals?:D

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

We Brigantes rebelled too
Romans in Britain - The Brigantian uprising
but we were not near enough to sack Colchester and Londinium, which has elevated Boudicca to the mythological grandeur she now has, as a symbol of resistance to the invaders.

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

I'm from Welsh/French Celtic stock myself, so I'm not really interested in the Brigants, or Johnnie-come-latelys, as I prefer to call them.:D

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

As long as it's still valid currency, I really don't care that much what's on it.

There are a few 50ps going around that don't have Britannia on at the moment, I think they have a design for when we hosted the Commonwealth games (although I could be wrong about the occasion so I'll try to find a 50p to illustrate).

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

Here you go.:)
Fifty pence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

there's absolutely loads of different designs on recent 50p's

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

See!!!!- you are getting sentimental about something which is not historically accurate anyway

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

Greg Pope and his fellow Europhiles must love controversies like this.

Gordon Brown has just taken us further along the road to a European superstate by signing the "revised" Euopean Treaty, while breaking the promise his government made to us to give us a referendum on it...and all we can worry about is symbols on coins.

In another 10 years time when we're just another province of the United States of Europe, will Britannia seem quite so important? :rolleyes:

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

My research into ancient british history reveals that the celtic tribes had migrated from Europe and were later joined by vikings and then anglo-saxons
So WE are descended from european immigrants :D

Special report: 'Myths of British ancestry' by Stephen Oppenheimer | Prospect Magazine October 2006 issue 127

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

Didn’t the tribes of Europe migrate from North Africa? The point I am making is that we all came from the same initial stock. So how far back do we go to establish our ancestry?

If Britannia is given the push then she should be replaced with the British Bulldog under the heel of the American Eagle. Or maybe the British Bulldog under the heel of the Brussels jackboot.

Thanks garinda. I knew that there was a 50p coin that showed a series of hands in a circle.

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

"Didn’t the tribes of Europe migrate from North Africa"(quote from Jambutty)

When investigating so far back into PRE history the research has had several theories in our time, but analysis of the genes in world populations is making the prehistoric migrations in ancient peoples clearer.

Until recently it was theorised that ALL homo sapiens originated in the African rift valley, but recent theories based on genetic research have revealed another source in Asia which gave rise to 'Java man' - another variant and distinctive type of homo sapiens

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

I was actually watching a repeat of Michael Wood's programme about India the other night. The geneticists on there said that ancient man left Africa 70,000 years ago, made their way around the Arabian Gulf, and eventually settled in southern India. It is said that everyone today who isn't of African descent, comes from that small gene pool.

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

There was an article in the National Geographic
Human Fossil Adds Fuel to Evolution Debate
an extract-
Java man" of Indonesia, for instance, was originally placed in the 500,000-year-old range
New technology has allowed for more precise dating of fossils, and recent reassessments put the age of Java man at about 1.5 million years old, contemporaneous with other fossil finds in Africa. The age of fossils found in China has similarly been revised upward.


The use of the word 'contemporous' indicates that there was development on both continents at the same time - so they dont know which was first now

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

Perhaps we should have 'Elizabeth' the monkey woman on our fifty pence pieces, as all mankind is supposedly descended from her.:D

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

Can I postpone the rest of this history lesson until another day -- feeling quite worn out :( ?

Re: Britannia Sacked.
 

couldn,t care less what they put on coins/notes within reason, 50p is 50p end of,to me.:)