Contents:
Pistrucci also modified the figure of the saint, placing a sword in his hand in place of the broken lance seen previously, eliminating the streamer from his helmet, and refining the look of the cloak. The new version was authorised by an Order in Council of 5 May These were struck every year between and , but the King was unhappy with the depiction of him and requested a new one be prepared, based on a more flattering bust by Francis Chantrey. Pistrucci refused to copy the work of another artist and was barred from further work on the coinage.
Second Engraver later Chief Engraver William Wyon was assigned to translate Chantrey's bust into a coin design, and the new sovereign came into use during It did not bear the George and Dragon design, as the new Master of the Mint, Thomas Wallace , disliked several of the current coinage designs, and had Jean Baptiste Merlen of the Royal Mint prepare new reverse designs. The George and Dragon design would not again appear on the sovereign until William IV 's accession in upon the death of his brother George led to new designs for the sovereign, with the new King's depiction engraved by William Wyon based on a bust by Chantrey.
Two slightly different busts were used, with what is usually called the "first bust" used for most circulating pieces the first year of production and some from , with the "second bust" used for the prototype pattern coins that year, as well as for proof coins of , some from and taking over entirely by The reverse shows another depiction by Merlen of the Ensigns Armorial, with the date accompanied by the Latin word "Anno", or year. These were struck every year until the year of the King's death, The accession of Queen Victoria in ended the personal union between Britain and Hanover, as under the latter's Salic Law , a woman could not take the Hanoverian throne.
Thus, both sides of the sovereign had to be changed. The new coin was approved on 26 February , and with the exception of and , the "shield back" sovereign was struck at the Royal Mint in London every year from to Records of why the numbers were used are not known to survive, with one widely printed theory that they were used to track die wear. Gold is a soft metal, and the hazards of circulation tended to make sovereigns lightweight over time. In , when the legacy of James Smithson was converted into gold in preparation for transmission to the United States, American authorities requested recently-struck sovereigns, likely to maximise the quantity of gold when the sovereigns were melted after arrival in the United States.
By the early s, the Bank of England estimated that 20 per cent of the gold coins that came into its hands were lightweight. In part to boost the sovereign's reputation in trade, the Bank undertook a programme of recoinage, melting lightweight gold coins and using the gold for new, full-weight ones.
This not only kept the sovereign to standard, it probably removed most of the remaining guineas still in commerce. The wear problem continued: The Coinage Act tightened standards at the Royal Mint, requiring sovereigns to be individually tested at the annual Trial of the Pyx rather than in bulk. The sovereign was seen in fiction: Joseph Conrad , in his novels set in Latin America, refers several times to ship captains keeping sovereigns as a ready store of value.
Although many sovereigns were melted down for recoining on reaching a foreign land as were those for the Smithsonian , it was regarded as a circulating coin in dozens of British colonies and even in nations such as Brazil and Portugal. In , the Deputy Master of the Mint, Sir Charles Fremantle, restored the Pistrucci George and Dragon design to the sovereign, as part of a drive to beautify the coinage.
The two designs were struck side by side in London from to , and at the Australian branch mints until , after which the Pistrucci design alone was used. Pistrucci's George and Dragon design continued on the reverse. The discovery of gold in Australia quickly led to calls from the local populace for the establishment of a branch of the Royal Mint in the colonies there. Authorities in Adelaide did not wait for London to act, but set up an assay office , striking what became known as the "Adelaide Pound".
They were also to be the same weight, fineness and value as other sovereigns. Early issues for Sydney, until , depicted a bust of Victoria similar to those struck in Britain, but with a wreath of banksia , native to Australia, in her hair. Beginning in , the designs were those used in London, though with a mint mark "S" or "M" or, later, "P" denoting their origin. The mints at Melbourne and Sydney were allowed to continue striking the shield design even though it had been abandoned at the London facility, and did so until due to local popularity.
The large issues of the colonial mints meant that by , about 40 per cent of the sovereigns circulating in Britain were from Australia. It was not until that what is now the Royal Canadian Mint , in Ottawa, opened, and it struck sovereigns with the mint mark "C" from to , excepting , each year in small numbers. Melbourne and Perth stopped striking sovereigns after , with Sydney having closed in To address the high demand for gold coins in the Indian market, which does not allow gold coins to be imported, [64] the minting of gold sovereigns in India with mint mark I has resumed since In the late 19th century, several Chancellors of the Exchequer had questioned the wisdom of having much of Britain's stock of gold used in coinage.
Lord Randolph Churchill proposed relying less on gold coinage and moving to high-value silver coins, and the short-lived double florin or four-shilling piece is a legacy of his views. Fears that widespread forgery of banknotes would shake confidence in the pound put paid to his proposal. Possibly it may be destined to hold in the future the same kind of international position as was held for several centuries, in the days of a silver standard, by the Mexican dollar. Following the declaration of war against Germany on 4 August, the government circulated one-pound and ten-shilling banknotes in place of the sovereign and half sovereign.
Cullimore Allen, in his book on sovereigns, recalled meeting his first payroll after the change to banknotes, with the workers dubious about the banknotes and initially asking to be paid in gold. Allen converted five sovereigns from his own pocket into notes, and the workers made no further objection. Few insisted on payment in gold in the face of such appeals, and by mid, the sovereign was rarely seen in London commerce. The coin was depicted on propaganda posters, which urged support for the war.
Although sovereigns continued to be struck at London until the end of , they were mostly held as part of the nation's gold reserves , or were paid out for war debts to the United States. After the war, the sovereign did not return to commerce in Britain, with the pieces usually worth more as gold than as currency.
In , the Chancellor, Winston Churchill , secured the passage of the Gold Standard Act , restoring Britain to that standard, but with gold to be kept in reserve rather than as a means of circulation. The effort failed—Churchill regarded it as the worst mistake of his life—-but some lightweight sovereigns were melted and restruck dated , and were released only later.
Many of the Australian pieces struck in the postwar period were to back currency, while the South African sovereigns were mostly for export and to pay workers at the gold mines. By the time Edward VIII came to the throne in , there was no question of issuing sovereigns for circulation, but pieces were prepared as part of the traditional proof set of coins issued in the Coronation year.
With a bust of King Edward by Humphrey Paget and the date , these sovereigns were not authorised by Royal Proclamation prior to the King's abdication in December , and are considered pattern coins. The dated George V sovereign was restruck in , and , lowering the value of the original, of which only a few had hitherto been known. The sovereign remained popular as a trade coin in the Middle East and elsewhere following the Second World War.
The small strikings of dated sovereigns in the postwar period were not enough to meet the demand, which was met in part by counterfeiters in Europe and the Middle East, who often put full value of gold in the pieces. A counterfeiting prosecution was brought, to which the defence was made that the sovereign was no longer a current coin. The judge directed an acquittal although the sovereign remained legal tender under the Coinage Act Sovereigns were struck in , the Coronation year of Elizabeth II , bearing the portrait of the Queen by Mary Gillick , though the gold pieces were only placed in the major museums.
This proved ineffective, as it drove gold dealing underground, and was abandoned in The sovereign's role in popular culture continued: When held at gunpoint on the Orient Express by Red Grant , Bond uses the gold to distract Grant, leading to the villain's undoing. The last of the Gillick sovereigns had been struck in ; when production resumed in , it was with a portrait by Arnold Machin. From , the sovereign was issued as a coin for the bullion market, but was also struck by the Royal Mint in proof condition for collectors, and this issuance of proof coins has continued annually.
In , the Machin portrait of the Queen was replaced by one by Raphael Maklouf. The coin, designed by Bernard Sindall , evokes the designs of that earlier piece, showing the Queen enthroned and facing front, as Henry appeared on the old English sovereign. The reverse of the piece depicts a double Tudor rose fronted by the royal arms; a similar design with updated arms graces the reverse of the sovereign.
Ian Rank-Broadley designed the fourth bust of the Queen to be used on the sovereign, and this went into use in and was used until Bullion sovereigns began to be issued again in , and this has continued.
In , the reverse was re-engraved using tools from the reign of George III in the hope of better capturing Pistrucci's design. The most recent special designs, in and , were only for collectors. The collector's piece, for the Queen's 90th birthday, has a one-year-only portrait of her on the obverse designed by James Butler. The collector's piece returned to Pistrucci's original design of for the modern sovereign's th birthday, with the Garter belt and motto. A piedfort was also minted, and the bullion sovereign struck at Llantrisant, though retaining the customary design, was given a privy mark with the number Many of the variant designs of the sovereign since have been intended to appeal to coin collectors, as have the other gold coins based on the sovereign, from the quarter sovereign to the five sovereign piece.
To expedite matters, the Royal Mint is authorised to sell gold sovereigns directly to the public, rather than having its output channelled through the Bank of England as was once the case. As well as being used as a circulating coin, the sovereign has entered fashion, with some men in the 19th century placing one on their pocket watch chains; wearing one in that fashion came to be seen as a sign of integrity.
Others carried their sovereigns in a small purse linked to the watch chain. These customs vanished with the popularisation of the wrist watch. At the London Mint Office, we pride ourselves on being able to offer our customers the very best in collectable coins from both the modern and ancient worlds. Equally, we pride ourselves on the quality of each and every item we sell.
Whether you are purchasing a new issue or a historic gold sovereign, you can be assured that the quality, craftsmanship and authenticity of each individual coin or medal you purchase with The London Mint Office is guaranteed. Each item we sell comes with a Certificate of Authenticity attesting to its quality, purity and if applicable, limited edition status, enabling you to enjoy your purchase to its fullest. This means that if for any reason you are less than satisfied with any purchase from us you can return it within 14 days and we will offer you a replacement subject to availability or a full refund, no questions asked.
Markain White. SUVEREIBNS {HE NEW BEMNNINB MARK/\IN WHITE The NewBeginning Markain White. Front Cover. Almost three thousand years later, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the The only disadvantage of the sovereign as a bullion coin, is that the new breed.
Through long grown partnerships with most of the major state mints and national banks across the globe, we have become one of the leading sources in the coin collecting community. It is through these partnerships that we are able to offer a unique range of hard-to-find historic coins, circulation coins, and noteworthy new issues originating from virtually every country in the world. Whether your interest is in historic gold sovereigns, shipwreck silver coins, or the latest releases of Krugerrand coins The London Mint Office offers something for everyone.
Just as we are committed to offering the very best in collectable coins, we are committed to enhancing the enjoyment, understanding and knowledge of both existing and new coin collectors. We currently estimate that any orders will be dispatched to you within the next 28 days.