“The Sovereign should have the standard fineness of eleven twelfths fine gold and one twelfth alloy, or a millesimal fineness of 916.66. The alloy used in modern sovereigns has traditionally been copper and sovereigns struck in India in 1918 as well as 2013 conform to this traditional composition.”
Philip Hawkins, Queen’s Assay Master
- The full Sovereign weighs 7.98805g and is made up of 91.67% gold. The diameter is 22.05mm.
- Each legitimate coin comes with its own certificate and serial number.
- A Half Sovereign is also available which has a diameter of 19.30mm.
- Combined with the packaging (Gold Sovereigns are never sold ‘loose’) and certificate you can be sure that you are getting the real article.
- The Sovereign is the world’s most recognised commemorative coin and is in great demand even today.
- The front of the coin was designed by 19th Century engraver Benedetto Pistrucci and shows St. George slaying the dragon. The back of the current coin shows a side portrait of Her Majesty the Queen.
- Monarchs that have appeared on the reverse of the coin are King William IV, Queen Victoria, King George IV, and Queen Elizabeth II.
- In Victorian times coins were reminted several times, the worn ones collected and melted down by the Royal Mint to be recycled.
- When the US stopped using Sovereign coins in 1933, many were melted down and made into gold bars. In the UK, Sovereigns were produced right up until the end of World War I when they came off the gold standard.
- The Sovereign is the flagship coin of The Royal Mint which is based in the UK an institution with more than 1,000 years of heritage behind it.
- The Sovereign is subject to tight controls and cannot be reproduced without permission from the Royal Mint. The quality of the coin is verified at the Trial of the Pyx, an exacting independent trial dating back to 1282.
- Production of the Sovereign has to be guaranteed within five decimal places by the UK Coinage Act of 1971.
- Apart from India, the Sovereign has also been struck in Australia, Canada and South Africa.
- In 1918 The Royal Mint created a branch in Bombay for a single year, during which 1,300,000 Sovereigns, carrying the Indian mintmark ‘I’ were struck. It would be more than 90 years before another coin was struck, in 2013.
- Each Sovereign minted by MMTC-PAMP India comes in a distinctive package with its own serial number and the Royal Mint’s Certification of gold content and purity. The coin is of identical design and specification to the UK-minted Sovereign distinguished only by the ‘I’ mintmark.