The British Sovereign gold coins are most popular amongst numismatists. According to history, Britain started minting coins way back in the year 1489. That was by the king Henry VII who started with a gold coin of 20 Schilling face value. However, in the year 1603, king James I suspended the minting of gold coins but in 1817 king George III once again got the minting of gold coins started.
Brief history:
During this period Britain had minted many gold coins of various denominations or face values. These coins were being used for trade and commerce throughout Europe. One of the masterpieces of engraving work came during the nineteenth Century by Benedetto Pistrucci who designed the St. George’s image and also that of the dragon on the reverse side of the coin. In fact many numismatists say that this is one of the best engraving works ever known in the history of minting of Gold Coins in Europe. The design was so impressive that George Goschen, the then Chancellor of Exchequer stated that there is nothing more handsome compared to St. George’s image and also the image of the dragon designed by Mr. Benedetto Pistrucci. In fact, many numismatists say that it is this design which has made this coin so popular and they also say this coin is in great demand even to this day.
About the coin:
The unique feature of this coin is that the front side of the coin, namely the obverse side depicts the image of the king who was ruling the country during the period when the coin was minted. The image of the king is encircled with the name of the king with some words like ‘DG BRITT’, etc. On the back side of the coin we find an image of St. George riding a horse with a mythical dragon at the bottom of the horse and the king slaying the dragon.
In the later years kings Edward VII, George V and Queen Victoria made notable contributions to circulate the uncirculated designs of these British Sovereign coins and these coins are very popular even to this day throughout the world. As a matter of fact, the era of each of these rulers saw many improvements in other fields also. For example, Edward VII was a great sportsman. George V lead the nation to victory during the First World War and history says that Queen Victoria was responsible for bringing in the Industrial Revolution.
The British Sovereign coins have 0.2354 troy oz with 91.67% purity. The gross weights of these coins are 7.9881 grams with a diameter of 22.05 mm.
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