Sovereign (British Coin) - Production Quantities

Production Quantities

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). 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.

Sovereigns were produced most years as bullion until 1982. From there to 1999, proof coinage only versions were produced, but since 2000, bullion sovereigns have been minted. Modern sovereigns are minted at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Wales. The coins are produced in the precious metal unit which is sealed off from the rest of the Mint, the Mint itself being protected by Ministry of Defence Police.

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 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. Additionally, the Royal Mint was selling sovereigns dated 2010 in December 2009.