The British Sovereign

The British Sovereign is a British gold coin where it is minted as early as 1489 during the reign of Henry VII of England and remains in production till today. The design of the British Sovereign gold coin has seen many changes through the years, the earliest Tudor coin features the king facing seating on a throne, while the reverse side of the coin shows the Royal Coat of Arms on a shield encircled by a Tudor double rose. The most recent reverse design of the British Sovereign gold coin comes from a rendition by Benedetto Pistrucci depicting Saint George killing a dragon, while the obverse features the Queen. The original Tudor sovereign were 23 carat cold and weigh one-half of a troy ounce, however Henry VIII reduced the purity to 22 carats (92%), which were to become the Crown Gold standard today.

When buying gold coins, it will usually comes to the buyer's notice that Sovereign usually commands a high premium as compared to other coins like the Krugerrand, this is because the Sovereign is very sought after by numismatists (higher demand, higher cost of identifying and stocking a numismatic coin), as well as the higher unit cost of the coin.

Reverse Design (Current):
Portrayal of Saint George killing a dragon, designed by Benedetto Pistrucci.