The Gold Sovereign was the gold coin of the British Empire in it’s day, but now the sovereign is the gold coin of the United Kingdom and with a nominal value of one pound sterling.
In the years Prior to 1932 it was a fully circulating coin within Britain's monetary currency and was classed as gold standard currency. In modern times it is used as a bullion coin, and is produced as proof standard by the Royal Mint, these come with a certificate of Authenticity and the proof coins are numbered to the limit of that years mintage.
Named after the English gold sovereign, which was last minted in 1604, the Sovereign was revived with the introduction of the Great Recoinage Act of 1816.The Minting of the new Gold Sovereigns began in 1817. King George 111 was then on the throne of England
The Gold Sovereigns have been minted in the Britain from 1817 to 1917, in 1925, and from 1957 to the present.
The Sovereign has also been minted in Australia, Canada, and South Africa and they occasionally mint Gold Sovereign coins. The Gold Sovereign, are now minted at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, Wales,
In 2009, The Royal Mint released a new coin in the sovereign series: the quarter-sovereign, these resembles in some ways to the original gold English crown of the rose.
The gold content was fixed by the coin act of 1816 at 1320/5607 (0.235420) troy ounces (7.322381 g), nearly equivalent to 113 grains. This weight has remained almost constant — rounding at 10−6 g took place on its legal redefinition in the decimalised rather than fractional system of coin weights.[3]
