Gold Sovereigns
The original design depicts a shield over a highly elaborate Tudor rose. Five different types of sovereign were struck during Henry VII's reign, each with differing reverse and obverse until 1509. Sovereigns were then issued by Henry VIII and his son Edward VI, and "fine" sovereigns were issued by Mary and Elizabeth I. During Elizabeth I reign ( 1558-1603 ) however, the name fell into disuse and the gold coins of 20 shillings were known simply as pounds. The name 'sovereign' is thought to have originated because of the depiction of the ruling monarch or sovereign of the realm on the obverse.
A sovereign of Henry VII, picture courtesy of a CU forum member.
In 1813 the Royal Mint appointed a new Master of the Mint, William Wellesly Pole, and was given specific instructions to completely re-organize the mint. This began with moving from The Tower of London to new purpose built premises on nearby Tower Hill, and acquiring powerful new steam powered coining presses designed by Matthew Boulton and James Watt. Pole was older brother to the Duke of Wellington, not only was he responsible with the improvement of the manufacture of the coins he wished ' to improve the manufacture of the coin itself both in design and workmanship, so that we not only have to boast of the most beautiful and correct Mint Machinery in the world, but that we may stand equally unrivalled for the perfect form and exquisite taste of our several coins '. In 1816, coinage reform made gold the only standard, this means that a unit of currency is , or is kept at the value of, a fixed weight of gold. The guinea of 21 shillings was superseded by the sovereign of 20 shillings, though the former survived as a money of account until decimalization in 1971. Valued at one pound and at 10 shillings respectively, the sovereign and its fraction, the half sovereign, thereafter became the basic units of Britain’s gold coinage. Thus powered by the Industrial Revolution, the modern sovereign was born in 1817.
Sir Joseph Banks had introduced a brilliant young Italian engraver named Benedetto Pistrucci to William Wellesley Pole appointing him to the mint on the 26th June 1816, Pistrucci then suggested that the St George & Dragon theme would do well to remind the world of Britain’s victory over Napoleon in the battle of Waterloo in 1815.
Pistrucci supplied the Royal Mint with "a model in wax of the St George and the Dragon to serve as a model for the reverse of the crown" along with "cameo in jasper of the king's Head to serve as a model". Pistrucci reputedly used an Italian servant employed at Brunet's Hotel in Leicester Square as his model for St George.
The mint staff were unable to produce suitable dies and it "was found to be necessary for Pistrucci himself to engrave both obverse and reverse dies for the gold coinage" which also resulted in the design being modified for coinage purposes.
Many British artists resented the Italian but his abilities were seemingly boundless. Up until this time, the engraving was almost the sole responsibility of the Wyon family.
This beautiful classic design remains on gold sovereigns today, almost two hundred years later, and for most of its life must have to be one of the worlds most widely recognized coins.
The original sovereign design used until 1820
The reverse design had an ennobled Garter surrounding the image of St George armed, sitting on horse back encountering the Dragon with a spear. The legend translates as 'evil to him who evil thinks' . The obverse featured George III facing right with short hair with a laurel crown of a Roman emperor with the legend in taller than usual lettering.
George IV succeeded his father officially in 1820, though because of the latter’s insanity he had served as regent since 1811. Sovereigns were coined with the Pistrucci reverse and later with an ornately garnished shield surmounted by a crown. This reflected an ongoing struggle between William Wyon, Benedetto Pistrucci and the Masters of the Mint. The half sovereigns, as well as the single five-pounds issue, bore the shield design alone, while the two-pounds coins displayed St. George and the dragon.
St George underwent the first of many alterations in 1821, the Garter was removed and replaced by a reeded a border, instead of a spear St George now wielded a sword and his helmet was shorn of its flowing streamer. The date was also moved from the obverse to the exergue of the reverse. It is not known why Pistrucci made these alterations, he was also responsible for the obverse used until 1825 were he contrived to make the King look like the Roman Emperor Nero.
Pistrucci's portrait as used until 1825
In June 1824 William Wyon was put in charge of die engraving and Pistrucci ceased to be employed on the engraving of coinage dies thereafter. The reasons for this start with Pistrucci's refusal to copy Sir Thomas Lawrence's portrait for the Waterloo Medal* and again when he refused the Kings request to use the bust sculpted by Francis Chantrey for the obverse of the 1823 2 pound piece. Pistrucci refused to "copy another artist's work", rather he liked to work from live subjects. Wellesley Pole, now Lord Maryborough had resigned from the mint in 1823 and Thomas Wallace the new Master of the Mint had enough of the Latin temperament of the prima donna and used it to remove him, but Pistrucci's work on the Waterloo Medal* was incomplete, in fact he gained the position of Chief Medallist. Pistrucci managed to use the Medal to spin out his employment for 20 yrs. In fact by the time the dies had been completed in 1849, only one of the people it was intended to honor was still alive, The Duke of Wellington
George’s brother succeeded him 26th June 1830 and ruled as William IV (1830-37). His gold coinage consisted of sovereigns and half sovereigns, both bearing the shield and crown motif. The two-pounds denomination was struck only for the proof set of 1831.
King William IV died without a legitimate child and was succeeded by his 18 year old niece Victoria. The reign of Victoria (1837-1901) was long enough to prompt three distinctive portraits. These depicted her as the young woman of 18 on her ascension to the throne, as a mourning widow on her golden jubilee in 1887 and as an elderly empress in 1893
The two-pounds piece was coined only in 1887 and 1893, both times with the St. George reverse. In each instance, it was accompanied by a five-pounds piece of similar design. The 1839 five-pounds issue, struck only as a proof, depicted Una and the lion and is perhaps Britain’s most highly desired coin.
In 1859 a consignment of gold arrived from the Australian gold fields, and was considered to brittle for use in coining because of the antimony,lead and arsenic it contained. A metallurgist employed by the mint, G.F. Ansell experimented with the gold and successfully worked it into sovereigns, these can be identified by the additional raised line on the lower part of the ribbon. Ansell was later dismissed for being critical of changes at the Mint and continued to be a vocal critic for some time.
Detail showing additional raised line on an Ansell sovereign
In 1863 die numbers were introduced to the reverse of the sovereign. There are many possible reasons for using die numbers. The most obvious is to be able to check and control the quality of the dies, particularly if experiments were being conducted into die wear. It is possible that different methods of treating and hardening dies may have been carried out, and die numbering would have helped to ascertain which methods of processing were most successful. Other possible reasons include quality and security control during production.
1887 was also Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee year,after having appeared as a teenager on sovereigns for 50 years. a new portrait was introduced. The new portrait by Joseph Edgar Boehm was engraved by L.C. Wyon using the new reduction punch from a plaster model.
In 1891 a committee was formed and asked eight artists , all members or associate members of the Royal Academy, to submit two portraits each. Sir Thomas Brock's "old head" design was chosen on the 27th November 1892
Although Queen Victoria died on 22nd January 1901, It was not until 1902 that coins were issued for Edward VII (1901-10) having succeeded his mother when he was already quite advanced in years. The sovereign and half sovereign were hereafter standardized with the scene of St. George slaying the dragon. Commemorative two-pounds and five-pounds coins were struck with this design in 1902 only. An Austrian sculptor, Emil Fuchs, who came to the Kings attention whilst making a somewhat macabre death mask for Victoria, made a maquette for George William De Saulles to use in designing his effigy for the obverse.
The second son of Edward VII, George V was an enormously popular ruler. Although George reigned from 1910 until his death on 20 January 1936, his effigy first appeared on coins in 1911. His gold coinage followed the pattern set by his father’s reign in that sovereigns and half sovereigns were coined for circulation, while the two larger gold pieces were struck only in 1911 as coronation commemoratives.
Sovereigns were included in the George VI proof set of 1937 which was available for collectors, and sovereigns were also minted but not issued for Edward VIII in 1937.
The halt in production didn't bring an end to the sovereigns' usefulness. People around the world continued to accept them and spend them as money. During World War II, in fact, they came to be regarded as the only measure of value in German-occupied Europe. In Greece, for example, wartime prices were stabilized based on the value of the sovereign, and destruction of Greek property by the Germans was measured by the Greeks in sovereigns. The coins were used and hoarded not only by the victims of German occupation but also by the occupiers themselves. They also were used by Germany's foes: Allied airmen flying over enemy territory were given survival kits which included gold sovereigns. In case they were shot down, the coins would be accepted anywhere in Europe in payment for goods or services.
Following the war, sovereigns remained so popular in war-ravaged Europe that supplies fell far short of demand. As a result, they acquired premium value and forgers began to make counterfeits. The premium rose so high that the forgers were able to use a full weight of gold in their copies -- and sometimes even more than full weight -- and still reap handsome profits.
The sovereign was used as a measure of value in Greece long after World War II ended. Rents in Athens, for instance, were calculated in sovereigns well into the 1950s. In Saudi Arabia, too, the British coins circulated widely for well over a decade after the end of the war. British and American oilmen doing business there were paid in gold sovereigns throughout the 1940s and 1950s.
In 1953 sovereigns were produced for Queen Elizabeth II for the Coronation Sets but these were intended for national collections rather than for collectors. The Royal Mint resumed production of bullion gold sovereigns for circulation in 1957 as world demand for the coins had become so great, and the counterfeiting problem so acute, that Britain decided to issue them again on a regular basis. By doing so, it reasoned, it would satisfy the demand and thereby blunt the premium that was making it so lucrative to counterfeit the coins.
The Royal Mint stated in 1971 that the minting of sovereigns had stopped, maybe forever. The bulk of the 1968 coins went to the Greek Government, but a military coup lead to no more orders being placed. A spokesman for the mint stated that since minting had recommenced in 1957 most were sent to the Eastern Mediterranean (Syria, Lebanon Israel) and apart from the Greek government orders, the other countries which ordered large amounts were Canada and Australia.
1974 saw the introduction of another portrait. Arnold Machin, the designer of the Queen's portrait which appeared on British stamps since 1967, described as the most reproduced portrait of all time, as literally billions of these stamps were made, was granted four sittings at Buckingham Palace and Balmoral.
Some time during this period the Royal Mint ceased refining and blank production for gold coinage, commercial and industrial advances allowed private contractors to supply the blanks within the strict tolerances required.
The Third Portrait was used from 1985 to 1997 inclusive. No ordinary bullion circulation type sovereigns were issued in this period, so that only proof versions are available with this portrait.
In 1997 the winner of the Royal Mints competition to design a new effigy was announced, it was sculptor and medallist Ian Rank-Broadley. His new effigy graced the collector proof versions from 1998, and in 2000 The Royal Mint resumed production of bullion gold sovereigns, but with much lower mintages as they are aimed at the collector market rather than to be used strictly as bullion.
2002 saw the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth's reign and revived a modern version of a coin design last seen on sovereigns struck for the same anniversary of Queen Victoria in 1887. Instead of the renowned Benedetto Pistrucci engraving of St. George and the Dragon, the reverse of the 2002 gold sovereign carries the royal coat of arms for only second time in 115 years.
The world-famous design of St George and the dragon by Benedetto Pistrucci has dominated the reverse of the gold sovereign since it finally supplanted the Victorian shield in 1887.
The modern depiction of George and the Dragon will only appear on the 2005 issue.
In 2007 the Royal Mint announced it had re-mastered the dies for St George and the obverse, reports indicate that the coin now has much more detail, harking back to the earlier sovereigns that represented the Empire throughout the world. In 2008 the Royal Mint announced yet another re-mastering.
Nearly two centuries have passed since St. George first started slaying the dragon on the sovereign. The design seems as fresh today as it did when it first appeared, and these coins remain just as popular today as they were back in 1817.