MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands' commemorative coin will have to remove “Britannia rules the waves”

Pobjoy Mint “was not aware” that Britannia is trademarked on coin, according to the firm. It was later confirmed that the trademark resides with the Royal Mint

The Pobjoy Mint on July 18 announced that a trademark infringement necessitated the firm to remove the word BRITANNIA from the Reverse Proof 2017 .999 fine silver 1-ounce bullion coins minted for the Falkland Islands.

  The change during production means that a total of 7,329 coins have been issued with the inscription, creating a relatively low-mintage version of the coin.

“We will be restarting production of these coins without the inscription for the remaining 42,671 of the issue limit,” according to a statement from the Pobjoy Mint.

Pobjoy Mint “was not aware” that Britannia is trademarked on coin, according to the firm. It was later confirmed that the trademark resides with the Royal Mint, based on a search with the United Kingdom’s Intellectual Property Office, but a representative of the Royal Mint had not responded to an inquiry at press time July 18.

The image of Britannia will be retained on the reverse, but the inscription BRITANNIA RULES THE WAVES will simply be removed and no legend will replace it.

The coin in its initial version went on sale June 13.

Within hours of the announcement about the inscription change, online auction sellers reacted, acknowledging the design type change and adjusting prices upward or halting sales of the coins temporarily.

The 1-ounce coin had a mintage limit of 50,000 pieces, but the Pobjoy Mint generally does not disclose sales figures; whether the actual mintage of the second variant will be acknowledged is yet to be determined.

The obverse side, with the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II, is not being changed.