Sovereign History
Early Sovereign Coins
The first gold sovereign coins were the original pound coins. First minted in 1489, King Henry VII ordered the one pound sterling coins to be put into circulation to help boost the economy after the English Civil War.
These original sovereigns were decorated on one side with an image of the King on his throne - leading them to become known as sovereigns. Their value was set at 240 pence (one pound sterling) and they were 23.75 carat (99%) gold.
Victoria Sovereign Coins
Victoria sovereigns feature three different portrait designs -
Young Head - a younger portrait of Queen Victoria features on the 1838-1887 sovereigns.
Jubilee Head - to celebrate Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee in 1887, a new sovereign design was introduced with a portrait of Victoria wearing a coronet.
Old Head - sovereigns bearing this new design appeared between 1893 through to 1901. The portrait features a more mature looking Victoria in a veil and crown.
There are two different reverse design Victoria Sovereigns, one bearing a shield and the other design has St George & dragon.
The combinations of different obverse & reverse Victoria Sovereign designs are -
Young head and shield reverse 1838-1887
Young head and St George & dragon reverse 1871-1887
Jubilee head and St George & dragon reverse 1887-1893
Old head and St George & dragon reverse 1893-1901
Edward VII Sovereign Coins
Edward succeeded the throne upon Queen Victoria's death which was in 1901, though he wasn’t actually crowned until 1902 and the first coins issued for him bear this date. 1901 coins continued to bear Victoria’s head.
Edward played an important role in fostering good relationships between Britain and the rest of Europe, though no doubt his cause was aided by having relatives in some of the European royal houses. In France he became known as the Peacemaker though unfortunately he wasn’t able to stop the 1914 outbreak of world war I.
The reverse of the Edward VII sovereign bears St George on horseback slaying the dragon, while the obverse features the bare head of Edward VII. Due to thier continued circulation until world war one, the majority of these sovereigns tend to be fairly worn.
George V Sovereign Coins
George V was born George Frederick Ernest Albert on the 3rd of June 1865, he married Victoria Mary of Teck and fathered a daughter and five sons. He was the first British monarch from the House of Windsor and he died on the twentieth of January 1936. On his death he was immediately succeeded by Edward VIII, his eldest son.
The sovereign was much used in Britain early on in George V’s reign though that was all to change after the breakout of World War One, when the government began to request that people should give up their coins for the war effort.
There is only one George V sovereign design and it features Pistrucci’s St George & the Dragon. The only notable difference besides the dates of the George V sovereigns is that the earlier coins struck between 1911 and 1928 featured a bigger portrait of George while later coins struck between 1929 and 1932 had a smaller portrait. Unsurprisingly this has lead to the earlier coins to be referred to as the big heads and the later ones as the small heads.
Elizabeth II Sovereign Coins
Queen Elizabeth was born on the 21st April 1926 and ascended the throne upon the death of her father, George VI on the 6th of February 1952. Elizabeth celebrated her Golden Jubilee in 2002 and a year later her reign surpassed that of her four predecessors combined. She also holds the honor of being the oldest reigning British monarch.
To date there have been a total of five different obverse design Elizabeth II sovereigns -
Gillick portrait 1957 - 1968 - a youthful looking uncrowned Queen Elizabeth with ribbons in her hair, created by Nottingham born Mary Gillick. The reverse of these Gillick head sovereigns features Pistrucci’s St George & the Dragon design.
Decimal portrait 1974 - 1984 - this portrait was designed by Arnold Machin and thanks to being featured on many other coins and stamps is thought to be the most reproduced portrait of all time.
Third Portrait 1985 - 1997 a more mature and confident looking portrait, only proof sovereigns exist as circulation sovereigns were not issued.
500th Anniversary Portrait - 1989 - to commemorate 500 years since the issue of the first sovereign coin in 1498 (Henry VII) this design features Elizabeth fully robed and seated on the throne.
Fourth Portrait introduced 1998 - a more elderly looking Elizabeth which is likely to be used for the foreseeable future.