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The
first "one pound" gold coins were produced in 1489
featuring the image of King Henry VII seated on his throne. The
one pound coin came to be known as the sovereign because it always
featured the current monarch or sovereign on its' obverse.
In 1816, the Royal
Mint moved from the Tower of London to new facilities and installed
new steam powered presses. These new presses ushered in the age
of the modern sovereign. A new reverse design by Benedetto Pistrucci
was introduced featuring St. George slaying a dragon.
Sovereigns have
been produced at six branch mints in addition to the Royal Mint.
These branch mints were in Ottawa, Canada (C), Bombay, India
(I), Pretoria, South Africa (SA) and at Sydney (S), Melbourne
(M), and Perth (P), Australia.
Most of the sovereigns
produced since 1817 feature the St. George reverse, but sovereigns
produced between 1825 and 1870 feature an ornate shield. Victoria
"Young Head" sovereigns produced between 1871 and 1874
may have the St. George reverse or a shield reverse.
Half sovereigns
have been produced simultaneously with the full sovereign and
are also included in the listings below. They look just like
their larger counterparts but are exactly half the weight. All
coins are guaranteed genuine and are conservatively graded as
to condition.
Pictured below
are the "head" styles that River City Coins & Jewelry
currently have in stock.
We also stock a
large selection of 14K gold bezels if you wish to make your coin
into a piece of jewelry. Specifications for sovereigns and half
sovereigns are in the table below.
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