British sovereign
Orlena
Posts: 357 ✭✭✭✭
I’m curious, I collect British proof sovereigns and enjoy the history and designs but I never see a mention of the coins on this forum. Is there a reason or is it just a matter of no one on this forum collecting modern Brit coins.
Pretty much every coin I buy and sell goes through individuals in the UK or directly from the mint.
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I agree with you and have tried to bring up other later 19th and 20th century Brit coins to very little audience or response. I suspect relatively few collect in your area and believe that to be true of mine as well.
Well, just Love coins, period.
I've bought a couple of modern Royal Mint coins such as the Great Engravers series in silver and some of the King Charles coronation coins. The workmanship is excellent and they are fun (but there are SO many).
I never got into sovereigns though.
Probably the reason you don't see much talk about them is that there really isn't very much to say. Very straightforward stuff with all the data on the web.
There is so much history surrounding the sovereign (more than any other coin in my opinion) and many good books have been published about them. A lot is known, but there is more to be discovered. The British magazines and journals frequently publish new and interesting facts about the sovereign. Sovereigns have been around for centuries. Varieties are playing a larger role these days. The downside as I see it, is that the Royal Mint is producing too many variations these days commemorating this or that.
With the need for circulation coins down, they are trying to stay relevant and stay in business! If that means lots of commemoratives, I say so be it.
I’d rather have them around than not. The Pobjoy Mint closing was a loss.
I say post em if you got em…….Id love to see all the British sovereigns this sub can muster!
Regarding Pobjoy, are you speaking of their sovereigns or just in in general? Queen Elizabeth actually liked her Pobjoy mint portrait better than the Royal Mint portraits. At least that is what she said.
In general. They made some nice commemoratives, although again, way too many. But they had to sustain a large business and staff.
Interesting about the portraits. I’ll have to check her Pobjoy portrait. Personally, I’ve always disliked the last Royal Canadian Mint portrait.
I have a few British sovereigns (and some guineas) but this one is special:
Great Britain Sovereign 1963
Gold, 22.0 mm, 8.0 gm
In the 1963 film "From Russia with Love" British secret agent James Bond (Sean Connery) is given an attache case with fifty British gold sovereign coins.
James Bond's attache case gold sovereigns with portrait of Queen Elizabeth II
James Bond offers his sovereigns to a Spectre agent
I wanted a 1963 British gold sovereign after seeing the film but the United States gold regulations (in 1963) and personal finances prohibited obtaining one.
Until recently.
The Mysterious Egyptian Magic Coin
Coins in Movies
Coins on Television
Thanks to all for your comments and pics. I have assembled a KCIII set so far and some random sovs over the years. Here’s a few from KC III
Canada sovereign, 1909-C, in SP-65. Pop 4/0.
http://www.victoriancent.com
2015 had two QE2 obverses....
It seems like the Royal Mint is doing a new series on the various effigies of the queen. The first one is in a Heritage auction tomorrow.
What will they think of next?
One of my favorites, 1989 with Tudor rose (photo from BCC) I bought it from them and couldn’t improve on their photo
Really cool. Well done.
The sovereign is a cool coin. I have an Australian sovereign that is from my daughter’s birth year.
But I do tend to like the classic-looking gold sovereigns more than the modern pink ones.
This was a fun album set I put together a while back
Custom album maker and numismatic photographer.
Need a personalized album made? Design it on the website below and I'll build it for you.
https://www.donahuenumismatics.com/.
Cool albums.
http://www.victoriancent.com
There are probably more people collecting - or at least who have several examples of - the older "circulation" sovereigns, rather than the modern NCLT coins, simply because of the history - and the fact that you can get collectable circulation gold for only a tiny margin above bullion value.
I've bought quite a few, including a full "branch mintmark set" of Imperial sovereigns, back when gold was much cheaper. I wouldn't be able to afford to assemble such a set now.
Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"
Apparently I have been awarded the DPOTD twice.
On my 1984 coins from Isle of Man , made by Pobjoy, they used the second portrait of Queen Elisabeth, made by Arnold Machin, so it was the official portrait, the same with the one used on UK Royal Mint coins from the same period.
just a PSA for anyone seeking or collecting Sovereigns, I've consigned 8 coins to GC, that comprise the 2015 £5,£2,£1 and £1/2 sovereign of both obverses featured in 2015. So this is the Jody Clarke and Ian Rank-Broadley inspired obverses of QE2, with the iconic Benedetto Pistrucci reverse. Here are each of the £2 coins in PR70DCAM.
two 1984 sovereigns - Royal Mint (Machin’s) on the Left, Pobjoy’s on the right.
Interesting, can you tell me more about this, did they negotiate it with somebody or just made the changes without the approval from the Royal Mint or other institution? Or there were more portraits made by Machin available to choose from?
myEbay
DPOTD 3
I seem to recall that Taya Pobjoy said that an in house medalist made the design. I will have to check on that, however. Derrick Pobjoy obtained the rights to mint the Isle of Man coins, by the Isle of Man, instead of having them done at the Royal Mint. The Isle of Man Is not part of the UK or the European Union and they have the longest continuous running parliament in the world. The Royal Mint has no say in their coinage. The Isle of Man currently does not have its own mint and contracts out their coinage. Since Pobjoy closed, they are under contract with the Tower Mint. I am wondering if Les Lindsey may have had a hand in it.
Les Lindsey? The only Leslie Lindsay ( with "a") I know is the designer of the 1984 coins of the Isle of Man. When I talked with him, a few years ago, he was very old and had some medical problems. He told me he was the student of Arnold Machin! This was around 2019.
Which 1984 denominations of sov did you get? All of them? Yikes!
Well, just Love coins, period.
Les and Derrick Pobjoy
These are very nice albums and a great motive to fill them up, a project that could take decades. I just can't resist collecting raw unc coins and placing them in a nice Dansco, Whitman or similar album.
Imagine what they would be worth today, even with some concessions for some rare key dates, that could be purchased in F-VF or better, in order to fill up the slots.
myEbay
DPOTD 3
I only got that half sovereign, years ago, now the rest are untouchable for me because of the metal price. The Isle of Man one is rare, very low mintage. Mine is a 1 Sovereign type, BU variant (there is a proof one, very low mintage too).
A great picture! Leslie Lindsay sculpted a stunning amount of designs for Pobjoy, including the Isle of Man Sovereign with shields I think, it is his style. He confirmed he made the platinum Noble design (for 1984) but did not mention the Sovereign. I was kind of frustrated I could not communicate in detail with him about all that work from the 80's. Please let us know if you know more about him.
Did you have the 84 sov graded? PCGS or NGC?
trying to obtain reliable information from Pobjoy was extremely frustrating. Friendly enough and more than willing to discuss, just poor record keeping.
No, I did not start yet to grade my collection, so that one isnt graded yet. But I plan to do it.