King George V
Gold Sovereigns
King George V and Queen Mary were crowned at Westminster Abbey on 22 June 1911. They were subsequently enthroned as Emperor and Empress of India at New Delhi on 11 December 1911. As king and queen, George and Mary saw Britain through World War I, a difficult time for the royal family as they had many German relatives. To stress his support for the British, The King made over 450 visits to troops and over 300 visits to hospitals visiting wounded servicemen, he pressed for proper treatment of German prisoners-of-war and he pressed also for more humane treatment of conscientious objectors. On one visit to France in 1915 he fell off his horse and broke his pelvis. In 1917 he changed the name of the Royals from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor. He also adapted the German family-names of the related British noble families in response to anti-German feeling (eg. "Battenberg" became "Mountbatten")
George V took the controversial decision to deny political asylum to the Tsar Nicholas II and his family after the Bolshevik Revolution. People where shocked by George's unwillingness to protect his cousin but his advisers argued that it was important for the king to distance himself from the autocratic Russian royal family. Some people questioned this decision when it became known that the Bolsheviks had executed Tsar Nicholas, his wife and their five children.
The king had not enjoyed good health for a long time and during his final years he spent much of his time on his grand passion, philately and died of influenza on 20th January, 1936.
King George V saw his role as monarch as being to embody those qualities his far-flung subjects saw as their greatest strengths - diligence, dignity & duty. Seemingly to emphasize this, King George V was the only monarch whose effigy appeared on sovereigns from all seven mints. George reigned during the height of the Royal Mint's reach, but the tumultuous events of World War I, the collapse of the international monetary system and the demise of the gold standard meant that he would be the last King to grace the sovereign.
The reverse depicts St George mounted with a streamer flowing from his helmet, slaying the dragon with a sword. The date appears below the exergue line with the initials B.P. to the right, the mintmark ( if applicable ) appears in the centre of the exergue line directly above the date.

King George V
Large Head

1911 - 1928
Year London Sydney Melbourne Perth Canada
1911 Proof 3,764 Extremely Rare
1911 30,044,105 2,519,000 2,851,451 3,413,474 257,048
1912 30,317,921 2,227,000 2,469,257 4,390,672
1913 24,539,672 2,249,000 2,323,180 4,689,749 3,717*
1914 11,501,117 1,774,000 2,012,029 4,771,657 14,900*
1915 20,295,280 1,346,000 1,637,839 4,334,135
1916 1,554,120 1,242,000 1,272,634 4,107,705 6,119 *
1917 1,014,714 1,667,000 934,469 4,116,840 58,875*
Bombay Branch Mint issues one year type 1918
Year India Sydney Melbourne Perth Canada
1918 1,294,352 3,716,000 4,969,493 (1) 3,725,961 106,570
1919 1,835,000 514,257 2,852,156 135,957
1920 360,000 530,266 2,533,542
1921 839,000 240,121 2,320,530
1922 578,000 608,306 2,256,187
Pretoria Mint , South Africa commences operations 1923
Year London Sydney Melbourne Perth South Africa
1923 Proof 655
1923 416,000 511,129 2,129,026 719*
1924 394,000 278,140 1,428,984 2,660*
1925 3,520,000 (2) 5,632,000 3,311,662 1,868,007 6,086,624
1926 1,031,050 211,107 1,297,625 11,107,611
1927 310,156 1,305,420 16,379,704
1928 413,208 1,399,102 18,235,057

  1. 5 Different guides have five different figures ranging between 4,807,000 to 4,969,000
  2. Not including the 1925 dated Sovereigns minted in 1949, 1951 and 1952
    See George VI bullion issues for additional numbers
King George V
Small Head

1929 - 1932
Year Melbourne Perth South Africa
1929 436,938 (1) 1,588,350 12,024,107
1930 77,588 1,773,914 10,027,756
1931 57,809 1,173,567 8,511,792
1932 1,066,680

  1. Australian guides quote 137,000 but others quote 436,938

Sources

More Information on changes to Perth Mint mintages
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