Description
For those who seek out significant gold coins then this set brings together two of the significant year-dates in the reign of King George V and bring them together into one set.
King George V has special significance in the history of the gold sovereign as it was during his reign that the pressures of World War One led the government to suspend the Gold Standard and,ultimately, the era of gold coins in circulation, the ‘currency sovereigns’, ended.
This two coin set brings together the very first British minted sovereign of King George V’s reign, the 1911 sovereign minted in London. This is significant as not only is it the first sovereign of this king’s reign, it is also his Coronation Year. Coronation coins of our monarchs are always popular.
The second coin in this set is the very last British sovereign of his reign, the 1925 sovereign minted in London. This is also the very last currency sovereign minted in Britain. The significance of this coin doesn’t end there: it is often known as the ‘Churchill Sovereign’ as it was struck when, in Parliament, Winston Churchill who at the time was Chancellor of the Exchequer, argued that Britain should return to the Gold Standard and once more have a gold based currency. The Royal Mint in London, who hadn’t produced sovereigns since 1917 due to war time pressures, took the opportunity to melt down batches of old and underweight gold coins in their vaults and turn them into shiny new sovereigns with the date 1925. In the end, Parliament could not be convinced that gold should once again circulate and so the 1925 sovereigns were not released until after World War Two when more were minted and released into the global bullion market. The 1925 sovereign minted in London has retained its link with Churchill and his passionate Parliamentary speech that led to its minting.
