Today the gold sovereign coin represents a piece of history and national pride, and it is one of the world’s most famous coins. The history of this coin is fascinating and adds to the allure of the gold sovereign.
Over five hundred years ago the first gold sovereigns were produced by the Royal Mint under the Tudor King Henry VII. The original Henry VII sovereign design featured an enthroned portrait of the King in his full coronation robes, with the reverse depicting the Royal Arms.
However, the sovereign as we know it today first appeared in 1817 as part of a great reform of coinage in Britain. The modern sovereign featured the classic image of St George slaying a dragon, designed by Italian engraver Benedetto Pistrucci . It combined such grace and dramatic impact that it set the new sovereign apart from every gold coin that had gone before. However, in 1825 the St George and the dragon design was abandoned, in favour of a more conventional design featuring Royal Arms.
By the middle of the century, it had become the ‘chief coin of the world’, synonymous with wealth, reliability and even Britain itself. Utterly reliable it was acceptable virtually anywhere in the world and was as familiar in the jungles of the Indian sub-continent as in the streets of the City of London. The image of St George was revived in 1871 though, and both dragon and Royal Arms Sovereigns bearing the head of Queen Victoria ran alongside each other until 1887. Due to the international popularity of the gold sovereign, from 1855 -1932 the sovereign was produced as far afield as Australia, Canada, India and South Africa. The sovereign enjoyed its greatest popularity during the British Imperial times and although several different types of coin were struck including the two-pound double sovereign and the five-pound quintuple sovereign, only the standard sovereign and half-sovereign were normally used for common circulation.
During the time of Queen Victoria it was popular practice to remove worn sovereigns from circulation and have them recoined, whilst it was estimated that the average lifespan for such a coin could have been up to fifteen years before they were worn down enough to no longer warrant legal tender. The First World War signalled the end of a circulating gold coinage. Nevertheless the romance of the gold sovereign endures to this day, and modern sovereigns are still produced.
Buying a gold sovereign today not only allows you to experience a piece of British history for yourself, but might also prove a lucrative investment since the value of gold is on the rise and predicted to continue increasing.
Timothy Jones writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.
