1817 GOLD SOVEREIGN, GEORGE III

1817 Gold Sovereign. George III, Special First Year Of The Modern Sovereign.

Mintage: 3235239

7.98 Grams Of 22 Carat Gold.

Rest assured all photographs are of the actual coin you will receive.

The 1817 sovereign of George III has a laureate head, with St. George and dragon reverse inside an inscribed garter.

It is the first date of George III Sovereign, which makes it also the very first of the "modern" Sovereigns. Previously, gold coins called "Sovereigns" had been minted on and off between 1489 and 1604, whereupon James I (VI) changed the name of the gold piece to a "Unite".

The modern sovereign was introduced in 1817 as part of a re-coinage at the end of the Napoleonic wars. From 1816 the silver coins no longer contained their intrinsic value of silver; they are therefore termed a "token coinage". The gold content of the sovereign was however retained at full metal value.

The sovereign was a 20 shilling or 1 pound coin and was struck at the same standard, 22 carats, as the guinea it replaced. As the guinea was current at 21 shillings and the sovereign at 20, the weight of the sovereign was fixed at 20/21 that of the guinea. This gave the sovereign the the standard weight of 123 274/1000th grains. 

The coins were struck in the new Royal Mint building on Tower Hill with steam powered presses supplied by Messrs Boulton, Watt and Rennie. The reverse design of St. George and the dragon was developed by Benedetto Pistrucci.

Obverse: Laureate head of King George III facing right with short hair; the tie has a loop with two ends; the neck is bare. Around, the monarch's legend GEORGIUS III D: G: BRITANNIAR: REX F: D:(George the Third, by the Grace of God, King of the Britains, Defender of the Faith). Below, the date 1817.

Reverse: St. George on horseback to right, wearing helmet with a flowing streamer and cape, holding a broken lance, above fallen dragon; around, the Garter inscribed with motto HONI · SOIT · QUI · MAL · Y · PENSE · (May he be shamed who thinks badly of it).

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