Sovereign (British coin)

Sovereign of Queen Mary I, c. 1553

There had been an English coin known as the sovereign, first authorised by Henry VII in 1489. It had a diameter of 42 millimetres (1.7 in), and weighed 15.55 grams (0.500 troy ounces), twice the weight of the existing gold coin, the ryal. The new coin was struck in response to a large influx of gold into Europe from West Africa in the 1480s, and Henry at first called it the double ryal, but soon changed the name to sovereign.[1] Too great in value to have any practical use in circulation, the original sovereign likely served as a presentation piece to be given to dignitaries.[2]

The English sovereign, the country's first coin to be valued at one pound,[3] was struck by the monarchs of the 16th century, the size and fineness often being altered. James I, when he came to the English throne in 1603, issued a sovereign in the year of his accession,[4] but the following year, soon after he proclaimed himself King of Great Britain, France[lower-alpha 1] and Ireland, he issued a proclamation for a new twenty-shilling piece. About ten per cent lighter than the final sovereigns, the new coin was called the unite, symbolising that James had merged the Scottish and English crowns.[5]

In the 1660s, following the Restoration of Charles II and the mechanisation of the Royal Mint that quickly followed, a new twenty-shilling gold coin was issued. It had no special name at first but the public soon nicknamed it the guinea and this became the accepted term.[6] Coins were at the time valued by their precious metal content, and the price of gold relative to silver rose soon after the guinea's issuance. Thus, it came to trade at 21 shillings or even sixpence more. Popular in commerce, the coin's value was set by the government at 21 shillings in silver in 1717, and was subject to revision downwards, though in practice this did not occur.[7] The term sovereign, referring to a coin, fell from use—it does not appear in Samuel Johnson's dictionary, compiled in the 1750s.[8]

A £1 note issued in 1814 by the Gloucester Old Bank

The British economy was disrupted by the Napoleonic Wars, and gold was hoarded. Among the measures taken to allow trade to continue was the issue of one-pound banknotes. The public came to like them as more convenient than the odd-value guinea. After the war, Parliament, by the Coinage Act 1816, placed Britain officially on the gold standard, with the pound to be defined as a given quantity of gold. Almost every speaker supported having a coin valued at twenty shillings, rather than continuing to use the guinea.[9] Nevertheless, the Coinage Act did not specify which coins the Mint should strike.[10] A committee of the Privy Council recommended gold coins of ten shillings, twenty shillings, two pounds and five pounds be issued, and this was accepted by George, Prince Regent on 3 August 1816.[11] The twenty-shilling piece was named a sovereign, with the resurrection of the old name possibly promoted by antiquarians with numismatic interests.[8]

1817 sovereign of George III

William Wellesley Pole, elder brother of the Duke of Wellington, was appointed Master of the Mint (at that time a junior government position) in 1812, with a mandate to reform the Royal Mint. Pole had favoured retaining the guinea, due to the number extant and the amount of labour required to replace them with sovereigns.[12] Formal instruction to the Mint came with an indenture dated February 1817, directing the Royal Mint to strike gold sovereigns.[13] As one troy pound (12 troy ounces) of 22-karat gold used to be minted into 441⁄2 guineas worth 44.5*£11⁄20 = £4629⁄40, each troy pound of 22K gold was henceforth minted into 46.725 sovereigns, with each coin weighing 7.98805 g (0.256822 ozt; 123.2745 gr) and containing 7.32238 g (0.235420 ozt; 113.0016 gr) fine gold.[lower-alpha 2]

The Italian sculptor Benedetto Pistrucci came to London early in 1816. His talent opened the doors of the capital's elite,[15] among them Lady Spencer, who showed Pistrucci a model in wax of Saint George and the Dragon by Nathaniel Marchant and commissioned him to reproduce it in the Greek style as part of her husband's regalia as a Knight of the Garter. Pistrucci had already been thinking of such a work, and he produced the cameo.[16] The model for the saint was an Italian waiter at Brunet's Hotel in Leicester Square, where he had stayed after coming to London.[17]

In 1816, Pole hired Pistrucci to create models for the new coinage.[18] After completing Lady Spencer's commission, by most accounts, Pistrucci suggested to Pole that an appropriate subject for the sovereign would be Saint George.[19][20] He created a head, in jasper, of King George III, to be used as model for the sovereign and the smaller silver coins. He had prepared a model in wax of Saint George and the Dragon for use on the crown; this was adapted for the sovereign. The Royal Mint's engravers were not able to successfully reproduce Pistrucci's imagery in steel, and the sculptor undertook the engraving of the dies himself.[21]

Pistrucci's George and Dragon design

Pistrucci's original sketch for the sovereign

Pistrucci's design for the reverse of the sovereign features Saint George on horseback. His left hand clutches the rein of the horse's bridle, and he does not wear armour, other than on his lower legs and feet, with his toes bare. Further protection is provided by the helmet, with, on early issues, a streamer or plume of hair floating behind. Also flowing behind the knight is his chlamys, or cloak; it is fastened in front by a fibula. George's right shoulder bears a balteus for suspending the gladius, the sword that he grasps in his right hand.[22] He is otherwise naked[23]—the art critic John Ruskin later considered it odd that the saint should be unclothed going into such a violent encounter.[24] The saint's horse appears to be half attacking, half shrinking from the dragon, which lies wounded by George's spear and in the throes of death.[23]

The sovereign replaced the guinea.

The original 1817 design had the saintly knight still carrying part of his broken spear. This was changed to a sword when the garter that originally surrounded the design was eliminated in 1821, and George is intended to have broken his spear earlier in the encounter with the dragon.[25] Also removed in 1821 was the plume of hair, or streamer, behind George's helmet; it was restored in 1887,[26] modified in 1893 and 1902,[22] and eliminated in 2009.[27]

The George and Dragon design is in the Neoclassical style. When Pistrucci created the coin, Neoclassicism was all the rage in London, and he may have been inspired by the Elgin Marbles, which were exhibited from 1807, and which he probably saw soon after his arrival in London. Pistrucci's sovereign was unusual for a British coin of the 19th century in not having a heraldic design, but this was consistent with Pole's desire to make the sovereign look as different from the guinea as possible.[28]

The 1852 Adelaide Pound (on average) contains 8.75 grams of gold (0.9170 fine) and weighs 0.2580 of an ounce.[63]

The 1851 discovery of gold in Australia quickly led to calls from the local populace for the establishment of a branch of the Royal Mint in the colonies there. Authorities in Adelaide did not wait for London to act, but set up an assay office, striking what became known as the "Adelaide Pound". In 1853, an Order in Council approved the establishment of the Sydney Mint; the Melbourne Mint would follow in 1872, and the Perth Mint in 1899.[64] The act which regulated currency in New South Wales came into force on 18 July 1855 and stipulated that the gold coins were to be called sovereigns and half sovereigns. They were also to be the same weight, fineness and value as other sovereigns.[65]

Sovereign, 1855, from original gold coin, Sydney Mint, State Library of New South Wales, SAFE/DN/C 1

Early issues for Sydney, until 1870, depicted a bust of Victoria similar to those struck in Britain, but with a wreath of banksia, native to Australia, in her hair. The reverse was distinctive as well, with the name of the mint, the word AUSTRALIA and the denomination ONE SOVEREIGN on the reverse.[64] These coins were not initially legal tender outside Australia, as there were concerns about the design and about the light colour of the gold used (due to a higher percentage of silver in the alloy) but from 1866 Australian sovereigns were legal tender alongside those struck in London. Beginning in 1870, the designs were those used in London, though with a mint mark "S" or "M" (or, later, "P") denoting their origin. The mints at Melbourne and Sydney were allowed to continue striking the shield design even though it had been abandoned at the London facility, and did so until 1887 due to local popularity. The large issues of the colonial mints meant that by 1900, about forty per cent of the sovereigns circulating in Britain were from Australia.[64][66] Dies for the Australian coinage were made at London.[67]

2017-I sovereign in card of issue

Following the Klondike Gold Rush, the Canadian Government asked for the establishment of a Royal Mint branch in Canada. It was not until 1908 that what is now the Royal Canadian Mint, in Ottawa, opened, and it struck sovereigns with the mint mark "C" from 1908 to 1919, except 1912 and 1915, each year in small numbers.[68] Branch mints at Bombay (1918; mint mark "I") and Pretoria (1923–1932; mint mark "SA") also struck sovereigns. Melbourne and Perth stopped striking sovereigns after 1931, with Sydney having closed in 1926.[69] The 1932 sovereigns struck at Pretoria were the last to be issued intended as currency at their face value.[70]

To address the high demand for gold coins in the Indian market, which does not allow gold coins to be imported,[71] the minting of gold sovereigns in India with mint mark I has resumed since 2013. Indian/Swiss joint venture company MMTC-PAMP mints under licence in its facility close to Delhi with full quality control from the Royal Mint.[72] The coins are legal tender in the United Kingdom.[73]

First World War propaganda poster featuring the sovereign coin

In the late 19th century, several Chancellors of the Exchequer had questioned the wisdom of having much of Britain's stock of gold used in coinage. Lord Randolph Churchill proposed relying less on gold coinage and moving to high-value silver coins, and the short-lived double florin or four-shilling piece is a legacy of his views. Churchill's successor, George Goschen, urged issuing banknotes to replace the gold coins, saying he preferred £20 million in gold in the Bank of England to thirty million sovereigns in the hands of the public. Fears that widespread forgery of banknotes would shake confidence in the pound ended his proposal.[74]

In March 1914, John Maynard Keynes noted that the large quantities of gold arriving from South Africa were making the sovereign even more important. "The combination of the demand for sovereigns in India and Egypt with London's situation as the distributing centre of the South African gold is rapidly establishing the sovereign as the predominant gold coin of the world. Possibly it may be destined to hold in the future the same kind of international position as was held for several centuries, in the days of a silver standard, by the Mexican dollar."[75]

As Britain moved towards war in the July Crisis of 1914, many sought to convert Bank of England notes into gold, and the bank's reserves of the metal fell from £27 million on 29 July to £11 million on 1 August. Following the declaration of war against Germany on 4 August, the government circulated one-pound and ten-shilling banknotes in place of the sovereign and half sovereign.[76] Restrictions were placed on sending gold abroad, and the melting-down of coin made an offence.[77] Not all were enthusiastic about the change from gold to paper: J.J. Cullimore Allen, in his 1965 book on sovereigns, recalled meeting his first payroll after the change to banknotes, with the workers dubious about the banknotes and initially asking to be paid in gold. Allen converted five sovereigns from his own pocket into notes, and the workers made no further objection.[78] Conversion into gold was not forbidden, but the Chancellor, David Lloyd George, made it clear that such actions would be unpatriotic and would harm the war effort. Few insisted on payment in gold in the face of such appeals, and by mid-1915, the sovereign was rarely seen in London commerce. The coin was depicted on propaganda posters, which urged support for the war.[76]

Although sovereigns continued to be struck at London until the end of 1917, they were mostly held as part of the nation's gold reserves, or were paid out for war debts to the United States.[79] They were still used as currency in some foreign countries, especially in the Middle East.[80] Sovereigns continued to be struck at the Australian mints, where different economic circumstances prevailed. After the war, the sovereign did not return to commerce in Britain, with the pieces usually worth more as gold than as currency. In 1925, the Chancellor, Winston Churchill, secured the passage of the Gold Standard Act 1925, restoring Britain to that standard, but with gold to be kept in reserve rather than as a means of circulation. The effort failed—Churchill regarded it as the worst mistake of his life—but some lightweight sovereigns were melted and restruck dated 1925, and were released only later. Many of the Australian pieces struck in the postwar period were to back currency, while the South African sovereigns were mostly for export and to pay workers at the gold mines.[81][82]

By the time Edward VIII came to the throne in 1936, there was no question of issuing sovereigns for circulation, but pieces were prepared as part of the traditional proof set of coins issued in the coronation year. With a bust of King Edward by Humphrey Paget and the date 1937, these sovereigns were not authorised by royal proclamation prior to Edward VIII's abdication in December 1936, and are considered pattern coins.[83] Extremely rare, one sold in 2020 for £1,000,000, setting what was then a record (since broken) for a British coin.[84][85] Sovereigns in proof condition dated 1937 were struck for Edward's brother and successor, George VI, also designed by Paget, the only sovereigns to bear George's effigy. The 1925-dated George V sovereign was restruck in 1949, 1951 and 1952, lowering the value of the original, of which only a few had hitherto been known.[86] These were struck to meet the need for sovereigns, and to maintain the skills of the Royal Mint in striking them.[87]

The sovereign remained popular as a trade coin in the Middle East and elsewhere following the Second World War. The small strikings of 1925-dated sovereigns in the postwar period were not enough to meet the demand, which was met in part by counterfeiters in Europe and the Middle East, who often put full value of gold in the pieces. A counterfeiting prosecution was brought, to which the defence was made that the sovereign was no longer a current coin. The judge directed an acquittal although the sovereign remained legal tender under the Coinage Act 1870.[88]

Sovereigns were struck in 1953, the coronation year of Elizabeth II, bearing the portrait of her by Mary Gillick, though the gold pieces were placed only in the major museums.[89] A 1953 sovereign sold at auction in 2014 for £384,000.[73] In 1957, the Treasury decided to defend the status of the sovereign, both by continuing prosecutions and by issuing new pieces with the current date.[89] Elizabeth II sovereigns bearing Gillick's portrait were struck as bullion pieces between 1957 and 1959, and from 1962 to 1968.[90] The counterfeiting problem was minimised by the striking of about 45,000,000 sovereigns by 1968, and efforts by Treasury solicitors which resulted in the sovereign's acceptance as legal tender by the highest courts of several European nations.[91] In 1966, the Wilson government placed restrictions on the holding of gold coins to prevent hoarding against inflation, with collectors required to obtain a licence from the Bank of England. This proved ineffective, as it drove gold dealing underground, and was abandoned in 1970.[92]

The sovereign's role in popular culture continued: in the 1957 novel From Russia, with Love, Q issues James Bond with a briefcase, the handle of which contains 50 sovereigns. When held at gunpoint on the Orient Express by Red Grant, Bond uses the gold to distract Grant, leading to the villain's undoing.[93] The sovereign survived both decimalisation and the Royal Mint's move from London to Llantrisant, Wales. The last of the Gillick sovereigns had been struck in 1968; when production resumed in 1974, it was with a portrait by Arnold Machin.[94] The last coin minted at Tower Hill, in 1975, was a sovereign.[95]

From 1979, the sovereign was issued as a coin for the bullion market, but was also struck by the Royal Mint in proof condition for collectors, and this issuance of proof coins has continued annually. In 1985, the Machin portrait of Elizabeth was replaced by one by Raphael Maklouf.[96] Striking of bullion sovereigns had been suspended after 1982, and so the Maklouf portrait, struck every year but 1989 until the end of 1997, is seen on the sovereign only in proof condition.[97] In 1989, a commemorative sovereign, the first, was issued for the 500th anniversary of Henry VII's sovereign. The coin, designed by Bernard Sindall, evokes the designs of that earlier piece, showing Elizabeth enthroned and facing front, as Henry appeared on the old English sovereign. The reverse of the 1489 piece depicts a double Tudor rose fronted by the royal arms; a similar design with updated arms graces the reverse of the 1989 sovereign.[98]

Reverse of the 2020 sovereign

Ian Rank-Broadley designed the fourth bust of Elizabeth to be used on the sovereign, and this went into use in 1998 and was used until 2015. Bullion sovereigns began to be issued again in 2000, and this has continued.[99] A special reverse design was used in 2002 for the Golden Jubilee, with an adaptation of the royal arms on a shield by Timothy Noad recalling the 19th-century "shield back" sovereigns.[100] The years 2005 and 2012 (the latter, Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee) saw interpretations of the George and Dragon design, the first by Noad, the later by Paul Day. Day’s design was used for the first strike-on-the-day sovereign which commemorated the jubilee. In 2009, the reverse was re-engraved using tools from the reign of George III in the hope of better capturing Pistrucci's design.[101] A new portrait of the Queen by Jody Clark was introduced during 2015, and some sovereigns were issued with the new bust. The most recent special designs, in 2016 and 2017, were only for collectors. The 2016 collector's piece, for Elizabeth's 90th birthday, has a one-year-only portrait of her on the obverse designed by James Butler. The 2017 collector's piece returned to Pistrucci's original design of 1817 for the modern sovereign's 200th birthday, with the Garter belt and motto. A piedfort was also minted, and the bullion sovereign struck at Llantrisant, though retaining the customary design, was given a privy mark with the number 200.[102][103] For 2022, a reverse design by Noad in honour of Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee, depicting his interpretation of the Royal Coat of Arms was used.[104]

Following the death of Elizabeth II in September 2022, the Royal Mint announced the issue of sovereigns showing the new king, Charles III, on the obverse, and with a depiction of the Royal Arms by Clark, chosen in memory of Elizabeth and her long reign. When they began accepting orders on 15 November, there was such demand that visitors to the Mint's website were placed in virtual queues.[105] For the Coronation of Charles III in May 2023, the Royal Mint issued sovereigns showing a crowned bust of the king, with the Pistrucci reverse. Both the crowned bust and the uncrowned one first issued in 2022 were designed by Martin Jennings.[106]

Collecting, other use and tax treatment

Sydney Mint sovereign, 1857

Many of the variant designs of the sovereign since 1989 have been intended to appeal to coin collectors, as have the other gold coins based on the sovereign, from the quarter sovereign to the five-sovereign piece. To expedite matters, the Royal Mint is authorised to sell gold sovereigns directly to the public, rather than having its output channelled through the Bank of England as was once the case.[107] As a legal tender coin, the sovereign is exempt from capital gains tax for UK residents.[108]

As well as being used as a circulating coin, the sovereign has entered fashion: some men in the 19th century placed one on their pocket watch chains (seen as a sign of integrity),[109] and others carried them in a small purse linked to the chain.[110] These customs vanished with the popularisation of the wrist watch. Women also have worn sovereigns, as bangles or ear rings.[109] In the 21st century, the wearing of a sovereign ring has been seen as a sign of chav culture.[111]

The staff carried by the Gentleman or Lady Usher of the Black Rod (known as Black Rod) as a symbol of office, and used to strike the door of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom during the State Opening of Parliament, has a sovereign inset into one of its ends.[112]

Coin auction houses deal in rare sovereigns of earlier date, as do specialist dealers.[113] As well as the 1937 Edward VIII and 1953 Elizabeth II sovereigns, rare dates in the series include the 1819,[114] and the 1863 piece with the number "827" on the obverse in place of William Wyon's initials. The 827 likely is an ingot number, used for some sort of experiment, though research has not conclusively established this.[115] Few 1879 sovereigns were struck at London, and those that remain are often well-worn.[58] Only 24,768 of the Adelaide Pound were struck; surviving specimens are rare and highly prized.[116] The sovereign itself has been the subject of commemoration; in 2005, the Perth Mint issued a gold coin with face value A$25, reproducing the reverse design of the pre-1871 Sydney Mint sovereigns.[117]

Strike-on-the-day pieces are limited edition coins, mostly sovereigns, that were struck by the Royal Mint on the specific day of the occasion celebrated.[118][119] The coins are issued in a brilliant uncirculated condition or matte finish.[120] Strike-on-the-day sovereigns are often minted with a plain edge, differentiating them from other, milled-edge sovereigns.[120][121]

• Crown gold
• Gold Britannia coin
• Krugerrand

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