Gold Sovereign Dates

How can you sell a gold sovereign dated 1932 when the Royal Mint stopped production in 1925?

Why can't you sell me a sovereign dated 1948?

Visit Our New "Gold Sovereigns" Web Site
We now have a dedicated website purely for gold sovereigns. For the most recent news and prices, plus a complete list of sovereigns dates issued since 1817, please pay us a visit at www.goldsovereigns.co.uk

We are always being asked for dates of sovereigns that don't exist, or receiving queries because someone has got a date of sovereign that they believe does not exist.

We do not remember every single date and variation, although we can remember many of them. There are several catalogues which we can recommend. The one we use is Seaby's Standard Catalogue of British Coins, Coins of England and the United Kingdom, currently in its 34th edition 1999 price £15, although we think it is the best, it is slightly more difficult to use than some of the more popular catalogues, such as Coins Market Values, which sells for about £6. We also have our own list on our computer database of all the dates and mintmarks.

The first gold sovereign was struck in 1489 for Henry VII, and sovereigns were also struck for Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, Elizabeth I, and James I, and had a value of one pound. They were discontinued after 1604, none were struck for Charles I, being replaced by the "unite", also with a value of one pound. In the reign of Charles II, the guinea was introduced as our primary gold coin, with a value of twenty-one shillings. Guineas continued until 1813 in the reign of George III. The first modern sovereign was struck in 1817 also for George III, and continued as our main high value coin until the first world war, when gold was needed to pay for the war effort, and banknotes started to predominate in circulation.

British coins have been struck at many different mints at different times. The Royal Mint is the best known, and was based in London from the days of Alfred the Great in 886 A.D. until 1968 when the new Royal Mint factory opened at Llantrisant in South Wales. Branch mints were opened Sydney Australia to coin the gold from the newly discovered mines into gold sovereigns. The first Sydney Mint sovereign to bear the normal British sovereign design was in 1871. Melbourne Mint started production in 1872, Perth in 1899. The Ottawa Mint in Canada opened in 1908 to coin sovereigns from the local gold mines, Bombay, India struck sovereigns in 1918, the Pretoria Mint on South Africa opened for business in 1923 again to produce sovereigns from the recently discovered local gold mines. The last sovereigns struck by the Royal Mint in London were dated 1925, but production continued at many of the branch mints until 1932 when the South African Mint stopped production.

Since then sovereigns have not been struck for circulation, but have been made for special occasions. 1937 saw the striking of sovereigns for the Coronation of George VI, but these were only issued as part of the four coin gold proof sets. More were struck in 1953 for the Coronation of Elizabeth II, but none were issued even for collectors. Regular issues were started again in 1958 to satisfy world demand for gold bullion coins, and from 1980 the Royal Mint have produced special proof finish versions for sale to collectors, in addition to some ordinary circulation type issues.

You may wish to visit some of our other pages:-
The Story of the Gold Sovereign

Collecting and Investing in Gold, Coins & Sovereigns
Gold Bullion Coins Including Sovereigns
Stock List of Gold Sovereigns, by Type
Stock List of Gold Sovereigns by Date
Proof Sovereigns
Vintage (1964) Sovereign Advert
1949 Does not exist
1999 Proof Sovereign

If you want to find the value of a coin you own, please take a look at our page I've Found An Old Coin, What's It Worth?