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 Mint
Marks 1871 - 1932
Gold Sovereigns Mint
Marks
In order for the Royal Mint to distinguish the
sovereigns minted at the Branch Mints they used a variety of mint
marks.
Mint marks can be traced back to the earliest of coins, they are
often employed to allow an issuing authority with a way to
distinguish the origin of the coins with a view to ensuring purity
and weights.
The British Government uses the
Trial of the Pyx in order to
do this. Pyx comes from the Greek pyxis meaning small vessel
or box with a lid. A random selection of coins were (and still are)
placed into a box which is taken to a council of goldsmiths where
purity and weights are checked against a known trial plate.
In 1957 the Perth Mint was having troubles with their
assays using the trial plate sent from London, when using the plate
to assay the bullion produced, they kept coming up with purities in
excess of 100%, which of course, is impossible. When they notified
London of this problem and finally got them to believe that the
assays were carried out correctly, London requested a sample plate.
When this plate was assayed, it turned out to be the purest gold
ever produced, coming in at 999.999 parts per 1000 fine. Perth Mint
was then requested to supply the plates in order to reset their gold
standard.
Queen
Victoria Young Head
Mint marks can be found on sovereigns from 1871, this
also coincides with the re-introduction of St George Young head
sovereigns came from three mints, being the Royal Mint in London (no
mint mark), Sydney Branch and Melbourne Branch.
On the Young Head, St George sovereigns the mintmark can be found
below the truncation of the neck on the obverse of the coin.
On the Shield reverse sovereigns the mint mark can be found below
the knot of the ribbon and above the heraldic flowers. From 1863 to
1874, on most London issues, a die number can be found.
| City |
|
Mint Mark |
|
Sydney |
|
S |
|
Melbourne |
|
M |
|
Perth |
|
P |
|
Ottawa |
|
C |
|
Bombay |
|
I |
|
Pretoria |
|
SA |
|
London |
|
No Mint
Mark, but after 1863 a die mark e.g. 28 |
In 1863 die numbers were introduced to the reverse of
the sovereign. There are many possible reasons for using die
numbers. The most obvious is to be able to check and control the
quality of the dies, particularly if experiments were being
conducted into die wear. It is possible that different methods of
treating and hardening dies may have been carried out, and die
numbering would have helped to ascertain which methods of processing
were most successful. Other possible reasons include quality and
security control during production.
From
1887 gold sovereigns used the St George reverse exclusively, the
mint mark can be found in the exergue (The bottom area of a coin
or medal, used to give the date, value or country etc, usually
separated from the fields by a line) above the date on the
reverse. There are 6 mint marks to be found and if one includes
London with no mint mark, there is 7 different versions. The King
George V series are the only coins to have been manufactured at all
branches of the Royal Mint, however owing to dramatic changes in the
world during this time, would ultimately be the last to carry mint
marks. By 1932 all branches of the
Royal Mint had ceased to
manufacture sovereigns, later dates are all from the Royal Mint and
have no mint mark.
For
reasons unknown there is a departure from tradition in the case of
the Ottawa, Bombay and Pretoria sovereigns. Mint marks formerly
carried the initial of the city of manufacture, but these carry the
initial(s) of their country instead. In the case of Pretoria it can
be easily understood as "P" was already in use by Perth, however for
the others it is unclear why this was done.
Sovereigns were
produced in large quantities until World War I, at which time the UK
came off the Gold Standard. From then until 1932, Sovereigns were
produced only at branch mints at Melbourne, Sydney,
Perth, Bombay,
Ottawa, and Pretoria (except for some in 1925 produced in
London as
part of Winston Churchill's ill-fated attempt to return the UK to
the gold standard or, more
correctly, to the gold exchange standard). The last regular issue was in 1932 (at
Pretoria).
Production resumed in 1957, ostensibly to prevent the coin being
counterfeited in Syria and Italy. Subsequent publication of treasury
papers appear to indicate that Sovereigns were widely used in
pursuance of British foreign policy in the Middle East, and it was
felt that the coin could not be allowed to fall into disrepute, as
many individuals were receiving payments in the form of Sovereigns
for services rendered to the British government.
Mintage figures for the latest British coin production are given
below. Please note: these are the actual number of coins issued, not
the official issue limits often advertised. In addition, the Mint
will strike extra coins for the purposes of quality control, i.e.
samples of coins are submitted for the
Trial of the Pyx which
involves their destruction. Thus, an issue limit figure never fully
reveals the true number actually created. Furthermore, the date on a
bullion coin refers to the year the die was made, not necessarily
the year in which it was struck. It is not unknown for the
Royal Mint to
strike gold Sovereigns with the date of the previous (or even older)
years, e.g. bullion Sovereigns struck during the reign of George VI
were all dated 1925 and featured the head of George V.
Composition
Sovereigns usually have a higher premium to the price of gold than
some other coins, like the Krugerrand. This is due to a number of
factors: the higher unit cost of the Sovereign (at under one-quarter
of an ounce); the higher demand for the Sovereign from numismatists
(compared to the Krugerrand which is not sought-after by collectors);
and the higher costs of identifying and stocking a numismatic coin.
For other ways to invest in gold, see gold as an
investment.
Current Sovereigns (2000 onwards) are struck in the same 22 carat
(92%) gold alloy as the first modern Sovereigns of 1817, which is
also known as Crown Gold, which contains 11/12 gold and 1/12 copper.
The only time there has
been a deviation from this composition was in the production of
early Australian Sovereigns, which used
silver as part of the alloy
and in London Sovereigns dated 1887, when an additional 1.25% silver
was added in order to make the blanks softer for new Joseph Boehm
effigy of Queen Victoria.
Consequently, 1887
London Mint Sovereigns are more yellow in appearance than other
London produced Sovereigns. This additional
silver affected the
amount of copper in the coin, not, of course, its gold content.
(Nineteenth century techniques of refining were not as advanced as
today, and nineteenth century Sovereigns became more accurate in
terms of their gold weight as silver — which is often naturally
combined with gold — was removed as an impurity from the "pure" gold
used. Such minor inconsistencies would not affect either their
numismatic or bullion value).
Care should be taken
when purchasing the new bullion Sovereigns (2000 onwards) featuring
Ian Rank Broadley's portrayal of the Queen. It is not uncommon to
see a weak striking on the obverse side which carries the Queen's
effigy. One should look out for lack of detail in the depiction of
the Queen's hair and ear. Such weak strikings appear to be
relatively common.
The Royal Mint created a new die for the 2007 and 2008
bullion
issues. The 2007 reverse die was based on a handmade original
created by Benedetto Pistrucci which was reworked to make new master tools.
The Royal Mint spent time choosing what it believed was the most pertinent
die (from the reign of George III) which they believed contained the
most detail. Using a combination of hand engraving skills and
digital technology, the Mint attempted to restore detail that had
been lost over the years.
Consequently, the 2007
Sovereigns have significant differences in
their reverse design from the other coins produced from 2000 to
2006. In the 2007 version the shape of the horse's tail has changed,
as has the left hand side of the edge of the ground. The initials B.P. (for
Benedetto Pistrucci) are also a lot smaller than on
previous versions. It is also possible that the folds in St.
George's cloak have also been rearranged. The reverse now most
closely resembles the version of St. George and the Dragon which
appeared on the 1818 silver crowns of George III.
The 2008 gold Sovereigns also appear to have a reworked reverse
design although, surprisingly, this is not commented upon in the
Mint's marketing literature. When comparing a 2007 and 2008
specimen, it is obvious that features such as the horse's tail, the
muscles of the horse and St. George's streamer have been altered.
The design appears almost rudimentary when compared to the more
subtle versions we have seen over the years. Although it has yet to
be confirmed, it can be speculated that the
Mint has once again gone
to an earlier version of the design by
Pistrucci and used this.
Whether this is a definite policy of the Mint to revisit historic
dies remains to be seen.
With regards the weak design of the Queen's head, this is again a
feature of the 2008 version, although not as pronounced as with
earlier versions. A possible explanation may lie in the design of
the Queen's effigy by Ian Rank Broadley. As this is a relatively
large design, it may present problems in circulation minting in the
same way as the infamous "ghost" pennies of George V.
If one side of a design
takes up more metal than the other side of a coin, the flow of metal
which takes place at striking may make one side more indistinct.
This may explain why mass produced bullion versions sometimes have
highly indistinct features on the Queen's face.
Sovereigns were produced as follows:
London: 1817–1917, 1925, 1957 onwards
Melbourne: 1872–1931
Sydney: 1855–1926
Perth: 1899–1931, 2010 -
See the
NEW DESIGN!
Bombay: 1918 only
Ottawa: 1908–1919
Pretoria: 1923–1932
Half Sovereigns, two pound double Sovereigns, and five pound
quintuple Sovereigns coins were also produced.
To learn more about gold investing,
please go to:
http://www.how-to-invest.co.uk/index.htm.
PLEASE SEEK
PROFESSIONAL ADVICE BEFORE YOU BUY OR SELL GOLD, SILVER & COINS.
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