Sovereign (British Coin)
The sovereign is a gold coin of the United Kingdom, with a nominal value of one pound sterling but in practice used as a bullion coin.
Named after the English gold sovereign, last minted in 1604, the name was revived with the Great Recoinage of 1816. Minting these new sovereigns began in 1817. The gold content was fixed by the coin act of 1816 at 1320/5607 (0.235420) troy ounces (7.322381 g), nearly equivalent to 113 grains. This weight has remained practically constant to the present day (some infinitesimally minute changes have resulted from its legal redefinition in the metric system of weights).
Sovereigns were minted in the United Kingdom from 1817 to 1917, in 1925, and from 1957. Australia, India, Canada, and South Africa all occasionally minted the coins.
In addition to the sovereign, the Royal Mint also struck ten-shilling half sovereigns, two-pound double sovereigns, and five-pound quintuple sovereign coins. Only the sovereign and the half sovereign were commonly struck for circulation.
In 2009, The Royal Mint released a new coin in the sovereign series: the quarter-sovereign, similar in some ways to the original gold English crown of the rose.
Read more about Sovereign (British Coin): Technical Specifications, Design, Reminting Worn Coins, Production Quantities, Counterfeiting, Composition, Production Summary
Famous quotes containing the word sovereign:
“The Sovereign has, under a constitutional monarchy such as ours, three rights—the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn. And a king of great sense and sagacity would want no others.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)