British Gold Sovereigns

 Gold has always been attractive to mankind - from the Pharoahs of Egypt to the Incas of South America It has been used as an ornament,clothing and a valuable item of commerce. but the most frequent and immediate use is for COINS.

Gold Coins have been used since Roman Times but the ones we are most familiar with are British Gold Sovereigns.

These have a history stretching back hundreds of years.

British Gold Sovereigns are immediately recognisable all around the world and have been used for commerce,ransom and many other purchases from luxury yachts to Idyllic Castles.

During medieval times (Henry VIIths reign) a gold sovereign had a face value of One Pound ( twenty shillings) and a practice called clipping (where a small piece of the edge of the coin was shaved off) became fairly common (although it did carry the Death Penalty

Queen Mary was  the last of The Tudor Monarchs to have sovereigns minted.

Other Kings and Queens had a coin called the Angel made but sovereigns were among the coinage of some of the later kings and Queens. Other gold coins appeared also.

The Civil War in England raged and eventually the House of Hanover brought a degree of stability. to he country.

Most of the Georges minted Sovereigns and so did William IVth.

It was however Queen Victoria who really made the Sovereign popular.

There are three basic designs of Gold Sovereigns with Queen Victorias portrait.

The early of Young Head sovereign, The Jubilee Sovereigns and the Old Head Sovereigns.

The Young head depicts Victoria in heryouth, The Jubilee design showed Victoria with the Crown (it is perched on her head looking apparently uncomfortably) and a veiled head of Queen Victoria in her later years.

During Queen Victorias reign exciting things happened worldwide - the Empire Grew,Victoria was made Empress of India and . - There were GOLD strikes !

Gold was found and mined in various parts of Amarica and Canada from Yukon to Deadwood and from California to Ottawa.

In Australia more gold fields were discovered and in South Africa there was gold in Johanesburg. But it raised a problem for the Biritish dominions - how to get the gold dust and ore back to London to make coins and retrn them to Australia and South Africa while still keeping those colonies in business.

A clever idea was instituted - The Royal Mint opened branch offices in Sydney,Melbourne and Perth..and another branch in Pretoria.

There the coins could be minted locally with almost egligible transportation costs.