The Sovereign Since 1817
Two hundred years of the same coin: why 22 carat, why Pistrucci's St George, and why it still leads the catalogue.
The Sovereign has been struck since 1817, and Benedetto Pistrucci's St George and the dragon has ridden across most of them. It is the coin this house is built around, and the reason is not sentiment.
1817, and why
The Great Recoinage followed the Napoleonic Wars, when Britain's silver currency had worn out and confidence needed rebuilding. The Sovereign was the answer: twenty shillings, 22 carat, 7.98 grams gross and 7.32 grams of fine gold. Those figures have not changed in more than two hundred years.
Pistrucci, an Italian gem-engraver, was commissioned for the reverse. His St George was meant to be temporary. It is still there.
The coin of empire
Through the nineteenth century the Sovereign became the working currency of world trade, struck not only in London but in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Bombay, Ottawa and Pretoria. It circulated as money — which is why surviving Victorian coins show honest wear rather than the untouched surfaces of modern bullion.
The First World War ended it as circulating currency. Britain came off the gold standard and Sovereigns went to the vaults.
Why 22 carat
A Sovereign is 916.7 thousandths fine, alloyed with copper. That is deliberate. Pure gold is soft enough to mark in a pocket; the copper made a coin that could work for a living. It also gives the Sovereign its warmer colour against the paler yellow of a .9999 Britannia.
The alloy means the coin weighs more than the gold it holds — 7.98 grams gross for 7.32 grams fine. You pay for the fine gold.
Why it still matters
Small, dense, instantly recognised, and easy to sell a few at a time. As UK legal tender it is free of Capital Gains Tax for UK residents whatever the gain. Two centuries of continuous production mean the market is deep and the price is never in doubt.
Buying an older one
A Victoria, Edward VII or George V Sovereign holds the same 7.32 grams of fine gold as one struck this year, and carries the same exemption. Priced on its gold rather than its rarity, it costs little more than a modern coin — and it has a hundred years or more behind it. That is the shelf we keep for the pleasure of it.
General information, not tax or investment advice.