2017 Sovereign and Other Commemorative Sovereigns

When the gold sovereign was first introduced by Henry VII in 1489, it was the largest gold coin in England which was intended to impress and impress it did, hence the name sovereign. The sovereign was later replaced by the Guinea which represented 21 shillings and weighed hefty 8.4 grams. However, in 1918 the modern sovereign was reintroduced by George III, at a value of 20 shillings.

For the first years the reverse of the modern sovereign carried the image of St. George slaying the Dragon, as depicted by the Italian engraver, Benedetto Pistrucci, along with the motto of the Order of the Garter, which also appears on the Royal coat of arms. The Order of the Garter ‘Honi soit qui mal y pens’ is generally taken to mean “Shame be to him who thinks evil of it”. The Order of the Garter was discontinued in 1820 and although over the years the reverse of the gold Sovereign has carried various designs of the shield and St. George, Pistrucci’s St. George slaying the dragon has almost become synonymous with the sovereign.

Over the years different designs of St. George slaying the dragon have been used on British coinage of various denominations but these have largely been one-offs. In 2017, 200 years after the modern gold sovereign was re-introduced, The Royal Mint decided to issue various gold sovereigns commemorating the Benedetto Pistrucci (BP) reverse.

The main versions of the 2017 sovereign are:

Brilliant Uncirculated: These carry the BP reverse without the Royal Garter border. For the first time, the sovereign carried a date mark indicating that it was commemorating 200 years of a significant event, in this case 200 years of the BP reverse design. These are normal business strike coins and come in various packaging options.

Piedfort sovereign: This is the same diameter of the standard sovereign but like Piedfort coins, it is double the thickness of a standard sovereign and weighs in at a hefty 15.96 grams of 22k gold. These were issued in Proof quality only and are very desirable.

Struck on the Day Sovereign: These were struck as plain edge coins as opposed to the milled edge of most modern sovereign. They were struck on 1st July 2017 (the mintage date of the 1817 sovereign) and are limited to a mintage of 1817 coins. The mintage includes both Brilliant Uncirculated and Proof quality coins but I haven’t been able to determine the split of the mintage numbers between BU and Proof coins. Although the plain edge means it is not strictly an accurate reproduction of the original sovereign, the significance of these coins being ‘struck on the day’ and the small mintage number meant they were sure to become collector coins in a short period of time.

Proof Sovereign: The proof sovereign was issued in individual coin boxes and also in sets of 3 and 5 coins. Other than the Brilliant Uncirculated examples (which have been struck in fairly large numbers) the proof version with a mintage of 3,000 is in my opinion, the closest thing to the original 1817 sovereign. I expect it to become scarce and very collectable in the coming years, as the coins find permanent homes with collectors.

A keen collector of sovereigns, I recently added a few 2017 sovereigns to my collection, including a Premium set of 3 proof coins which is comprised of the half, full and double sovereigns. I’m going to post some photos here and am hoping to be able to add a proof version of the plain edge sovereign in the future.

Although there were other commemorative sovereigns issued in 2017, they don’t appeal to me as much as the ‘Benedetto Pistrucci’ version. Please feel free to post any updates and photos of other commemorative sovereigns with a brief write up of the historical event.


2017 Proof Sovereign Obverse


PF70UC Rev


PF69UC Rev



Double Sovereign, Full Sovereign and Half Sovereign Premium Set

 

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"Them there's purrrrdy."

 

Great Britain should get a medal for keeping the beautifull classic Sovereign design for past 200 years/ more then I can say for other Countries The hammered Sovereigns struck under Henry VII and later monarchs were even nicer.

 

Lots of things are nicer when you're hammered. Oh, wait, never mind.

 

Very nice!! I'd like to get a SA mint.

 

Very beautiful. I want more!

 

Didn't they just do a struck on the wedding anniversary one too?

 

George III reintroduced the 20-shilling in 1817, not 1918.

 

You are quite right. Sorry for the error but I did mention the 1817 date and figure below in the text. Should have read my post more carefully

 

Yes they did but those somehow don't appeal to me too much. I prefer commemorative dates like the 500th Anniversary of the sovereign. For me the 1989 sovereigns were one of the most attractive with the Tudor rose on the reverse. I also collect jubilee or coronation coins

 

1923 South Africa Proof Sovereign for you

 

I agree it is more appealing with the more relevant anniversaries to the series. I’m on the fence if I want to care about the others or not

 

Call me cynical but it looks like just another way to milk the gullible collector. No way these will be anything but cheaper down the road, disregarding gold price movements.
Next year they will have a version personally struck by the Queen (pressing the 'go' button on the stamping machine), and the year after that a version specially pissed on by the Royal Corgis.

It is all flim flam and bushwah.

 

Hahaha looks like the Corgis pissing on the 1989, 2002, 2005 and 2012 has worked. Their prices are still holding up pretty well.....just like the leg of the Corgi

 

That is one outstanding SA Sovereign Excellent coin!

 

Thanks Panzerman. Means a lot coming from a coin connoisseur such as you

 

St. James had a beautifull 1989 PROOF set, I ended up being outbid on it. There is always, "Next time".

 

I have a couple of sets but I know you buy your coins at very competitive prices so I won’t offer one to you

 

Maybe that is best/ I am a tad broke now! I did manage to get a trio of PROOF 70 1/2 Sovereigns 1980/1993/2005 for 400 UK Pounds. The 1989 set went for 3000UK Pounds. I only have 21 AV coins from UK....best one a mint state Edward IV AV Noble. That does not include Celtic AV stuff/ have 6. My best Country Germany(really German States) as they are from before WW1 to 1300 AD, 105 AV coins.

 

You appear to have a very accurate record of your coins. I need to sort mine out. I keep promising to do it but am too lazy. Maybe my New Year’s resolution