"several centuries, in the days of a silver standard, by the Mexican dollar."" As Britain moved towards war in the July Crisis of 1914, many sought to convert Bank of England notes into gold, and the bank's reserves of that metal fell from £27 million on 29 July to £11 million on 1 August. Following the declaration of war against Germany on 4 August, the government circulated one-pound and ten-shilling banknotes in place of the sovereign and half sovereign. Restrictions were placed on sending gold abroad, and the melting-down of coin made an offence. Not all were enthusiastic about the"
"The first sovereigns were of 23-carat (95.83%) gold and weighed 240 grains, or half a troy ounce. King Henry VIII lessened the gold content to 22 carats, or 91.67%, and under the name of crown gold this became the gold coin standard in both the British Isles and the United States. The coin's weight was reduced several times until it was last minted in 1604. Unites, Laurels, broads, and guineas later took its place. The inscription reads - abbreviation for (Latin for ""This is the Lord's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes"", from Psalm 118). Sovereign (English coin)"
"the Queen as used in the circulating coins of the first years of her reign. The traditional bullion coin issued by Britain is the gold sovereign, formerly a circulating coin with a face value of one pound. The Royal Mint continues to produce gold sovereigns and half sovereigns, with 2013 list prices of, respectively, £495 and £250. Between 1987 and 2012 a series of bullion coins, the Britannia, was issued, containing , , , and of fine gold at a millesimal fineness of 916 (22 carat) and with face values of £100, £50, £25, and £10. Since 2013 Britannia bullion"
"retaining the customary design, was given a privy mark with the number 200. Many of the variant designs of the sovereign since 1989 have been intended to appeal to coin collectors, as have the other gold coins based on the sovereign, from the quarter sovereign to the five sovereign piece. To expedite matters, the Royal Mint is authorised to sell gold sovereigns directly to the public, rather than having its output channelled through the Bank of England as was once the case. As a legal tender coin, the sovereign is exempt from capital gains tax for UK residents. As well"
"in 1957. It has been struck since then both as a bullion coin and, beginning in 1979, for collectors. Though the sovereign is no longer in circulation, it is still legal tender in the United Kingdom. There had been an English coin known as the sovereign, first authorised by Henry VII in 1489. It had a diameter of , and weighed , twice the weight of the existing gold coin, the ryal. The new coin was struck in response to a large influx of gold into Europe from West Africa in the 1480s, and Henry at first called it the"
"become known to collectors as the ""bull-head George"". The weight of the new gold sovereigns was calculated on the basis that the value of one troy pound of standard (22 carat) gold was £46 14s 6d. Sovereigns therefore in theory weighed 123.2744783 grains or 7.988030269 grams, although this implies much more precision than it was possible to achieve with the technology of the time. This standard persists to the present day, more than two centuries later. To put a gold standard into effect, and avoid the pitfalls of bimetallism, silver coins were declared legal tender only for sums of money"
"£130 as of 2017). The half sovereign was first introduced in 1544 under Henry VIII. After 1604, the issue of half sovereigns, along with gold sovereigns, was discontinued until 1817, following a major revision of British coinage. Production continued until 1926 and, apart from special issues for coronation years, was not restarted until 1980. It was also used extensively in Australia, until 1933. Modern half sovereigns, from 1817 onwards, have a diameter of 19.30 mm, a thickness of ~0.99 mm, a weight of 3.99 g, are made of 22 carat (91⅔%) crown gold alloy, and contain 0.1176 troy ounces (3.6575"
"gold sovereigns, half sovereigns, and gold and silver Britannia coins are also produced. Some territories outside the United Kingdom, which use the pound sterling, produce their own coinage, with the same denominations and specifications as the UK coinage but with local designs. In the years just before decimalisation, the circulating British coins were the half crown (2/6, withdrawn 1 January 1970), two shillings or florin (2/-), shilling (1/-), sixpence (6d), threepence (3d), penny (1d) and halfpenny (d). The farthing (d) had been withdrawn in 1960. There was also the Crown (5/-), which was, and still is legal tender, worth 25p,"
"in part by counterfeiters in Europe and the Middle East, who often put full value of gold in the pieces. A counterfeiting prosecution was brought, to which the defence was made that the sovereign was no longer a current coin. The judge directed an acquittal although the sovereign remained legal tender under the Coinage Act 1870. Sovereigns were struck in 1953, the Coronation year of Elizabeth II, bearing the portrait of the Queen by Mary Gillick, though the gold pieces were only placed in the major museums. A 1953 sovereign sold at auction in 2014 for £384,000. In 1957, the"
"One Sovereign"" on one side and Queen Victoria on the other, or ""Sydney Mint, Australia, Half Sovereign"", before starting in 1870 to mint gold coins of British design. One gold sovereign equaled £1. Federation in 1901 gave the Commonwealth a constitutional power to issue coins and removed this power from the States. British coins continued in use until 1910, when Australian silver coins were introduced. These included florins, shillings, sixpences and threepences. They had a portrait of King Edward VII on one side. Australian pennies and half-pennies were introduced into circulation the following year. In 1931 gold sovereigns stopped being"
"face values of gold coins are 50p; £1; £2; and £5, a mere fraction of their worth as bullion. Five pound coins, although legal tender, are intended as souvenirs and are almost never seen in circulation. Maundy money is legal tender but may not be accepted by retailers and is worth much more than face value due to its rarity value and silver content. Bank of England notes are legal tender in England and Wales and are issued in the denominations of £5, £10, £20 and £50. They can always be redeemed at the Bank of England even if discontinued."
"Crown gold Crown gold is a 22 karat (kt) gold alloy used in the crown coin introduced in England in 1526 (by Henry VIII) to replace the earlier gold sovereign coins which were made from the softer 23 kt gold and which thereby had invited both deliberate filing and also non-intentional wear. The 22 kt standard has been used for British gold coins ever since this change which is 91.667% gold (or 22 parts out of 24). The alloying metal in England was and is traditionally copper-only, although a component of 1.25% silver replacing the same weight of copper, as"
"and in foreign lands, trusted as a coin containing a known quantity of gold. The British government promoted the use of the sovereign as an aid to international trade, and the Royal Mint took steps to see that lightweight gold coins were withdrawn from circulation. From the 1850s until 1932, the sovereign was also struck at colonial mints, initially in Australia, and later in Canada, South Africa and India—they have been struck again in India since 2013 (in addition to the production in Britain by the Royal Mint) for the local market. The sovereigns issued in Australia initially carried a"
"Britannia (coin) Britannia coins are British bullion coins issued by the Royal Mint in gold since 1987 and in silver since 1997. Britannia gold coins contain one troy ounce of gold and have a face value of £100. Gold Britannias also are issued in fractional sizes of one-half, one-quarter, and one-tenth of a troy ounce and with face values of £50, £25, and £10 respectively. In 2013 two additional sizes were introduced, a five-ounce coin of face value £500, and a fractional size of one-twentieth of face value £5. Britannia silver coins contain one troy ounce of silver and have"
"British sovereign, or 1 shilling and 4 pence per rupee. The British Imperial Government accepted the recommendations of the commission in July 1899. The action of the government in abandoning silver coinage was driven by the relative decline of the value of silver against gold, which had led to an accompanying decline of the rupee against gold and gold-based currencies (such as the British sovereign). India had been importing about a quarter of the annual global production of silver, in part to meet its currency issuing requirements. Some commentators noted that silver was gradually being globally discarded as a basis"
"legal tender for cash payments, but the Central Bank will redeem them indefinitely in multiples of 5¢. In the nineteenth century, the British gold sovereign was valued at four Spanish silver dollars and eighty cents. When the sterling coinage was finally accepted as the main circulating coinage in the British West Indies, the Eastern Caribbean colonies continued nevertheless to use the dollar unit for accounting purposes. The West Indian dollar was therefore equivalent to four shillings and two pence. This Royal Bank of Canada note reflects this state of affairs with its overt mention of the fact that one hundred"
"a face value of £2. Silver Britannias also are issued in fractional sizes of one-half, one-quarter, and one-tenth of a troy ounce and with face values of £1, 50p, and 20p respectively. Like the gold coins in 2013 two additional sizes were introduced, a five-ounce coin of face value £10, and a fractional size of one-twentieth of face value 10p. From 2013 the gold coins have a millesimal fineness of .9999 (or 24 carat gold). Until 2012 the gold coins have a millesimal fineness of .917 (91.7% or 22 carat gold) with the non-gold component being copper until 1989 and"
"in a range of different sizes. Minting of bullion coins began in 1957 to meet a demand for authentic sovereign coins which suffered from heavy counterfeiting. Coins were released almost every year alongside proof versions up to 1982 when production was discontinued. In 1987 the mint started to produce a new type of bullion coin, the 1oz Britannia coin which was gold and had a face value of £100. A silver version with a face value of £2 was also released in 1997. Production of the previously discontinued sovereign and half sovereigns resumed in 2000. In 2014 a lunar coin"
"or gold (and, rarely, other metals, such as platinum or palladium), intended for collectors or investors in precious metals. Examples of modern gold collector/investor coins include the British sovereign minted by the United Kingdom, the American Gold Eagle minted by the United States, the Canadian Gold Maple Leaf minted by Canada, and the Krugerrand, minted by South Africa. While the Eagle, Maple Leaf, and Sovereign coins have nominal (purely symbolic) face values, the Krugerrand does not. Historically, a great quantity of coinage metals (including alloys) and other materials (e.g. porcelain) have been used to produce coins for circulation, collection, and"
"a softening agent, was briefly used in gold sovereigns in the single year of 1887, for better production of an image of Queen Victoria for the Golden Jubilee of her reign. Crown gold with copper as the only alloying metal other than gold, remains the standard used in the British gold sovereign, which is still minted. In the United States, gold circulating coins were minted in 22 kt. gold alloy of crown gold purity, until 1834. These pre-1834 U.S. coins differed from their English counterparts in containing a significant component (about 6%) of silver. In 1834, the fineness of U.S."
"August 1816. The twenty-shilling piece was named a sovereign, with the resurrection of the old name possibly promoted by antiquarians with numismatic interests. William Wellesley Pole, elder brother of the Duke of Wellington, was appointed Master of the Mint (at that time a junior government position) in 1812, with a mandate to reform the Royal Mint. Pole had favoured retaining the guinea, due to the number extant and the amount of labour required to replace them with sovereigns. Formal instruction to the Mint came with an indenture dated February 1817, directing the Royal Mint to strike gold coins weighing 7.988"
"Crown (British coin) The British crown, the successor to the English crown and the Scottish dollar, came into being with the Union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland in 1707. As with the English coin, its value was five shillings. Always a heavy silver coin weighing around one ounce, during the 19th and 20th centuries the crown declined from being a real means of exchange to being a coin rarely spent and minted for commemorative purposes only. In that format it has continued to be minted, even following decimalisation of the British currency in 1971. However, as the result"
"legal tender for payment not exceeding 20 pence. Throughout the United Kingdom, coins valued 1 pound, 2 pounds, and 5 pounds Sterling are legal tender in unlimited amounts. Twenty pence pieces and fifty pence pieces are legal tender in amounts up to 10 pounds; five pence pieces and ten pence pieces are legal tender in amounts up to 5 pounds; and pennies and two pence coins are legal tender in amounts up to 20 pence. In accordance with the Coinage Act 1971, gold sovereigns are also legal tender for any amount. Although it is not specifically mentioned on them, the"
"convex and the obverse concave to show the King as a stronger feature of the coin. A sale of this coin was recorded for £12 in 1775, since then this coin's rarity has seen it become one of the most valuable British coins. In 2007 a sale of the coin for £207,100 set a new record for a British silver coin at auction. However, on 27 March 2014 a similar crown known as the ""Reddite"" Crown, also produced by Thomas Simon, sold at Spinks in London for £396,000 including commission becoming the new world record for a British silver coin"
"trade (and rather less equitable piracy), the Spanish milled dollar became the most common coin within the English colonies. During the American war of independence and the Napoleonic wars, Bank of England notes were legal tender, and their value floated relative to gold. The Bank also issued silver tokens to alleviate the shortage of silver coins. In 1816, the gold standard was adopted officially, with the silver standard reduced to 66 shillings (66/-, £3 6s), rendering silver coins a ""token"" issue (i.e. not containing their value in precious metal). In 1817, the sovereign was introduced, valued at 20 shillings. Struck"
"obtain a licence from the Bank of England. This proved ineffective, as it drove gold dealing underground, and was abandoned in 1970. The sovereign's role in popular culture continued: in the 1957 novel ""From Russia, with Love"", Q issues James Bond with a briefcase, the handle of which contains 50 sovereigns. When held at gunpoint on the Orient Express by Red Grant, Bond uses the gold to distract Grant, leading to the villain's undoing. The sovereign survived both decimalisation and the move of the Royal Mint from Tower Hill, London to Llantrisant, Wales. The last of the Gillick sovereigns had"
"Ottawa Mint sovereign The Ottawa Mint sovereign is a British one pound coin (known as a sovereign) minted between 1908 and 1919 at the Ottawa Mint (known today as the Ottawa branch of the Royal Canadian Mint. This has augmented debate among Canadian numismatists because some view these pieces as Canadian while others view them as British and thus distinct from the decimal series of Canadian coinage. Since the opening of the Ottawa Mint, the Dominion of Canada’s government wanted to produce decimal gold coins. As it was a branch of the Royal Mint, it was obligated to mint sovereigns"
"a pound sterling unit in conjunction with decimal fractional coinage. The idea was that the decimal coins would correspond to exact amounts in relation to the U.S. dollar fractional coinage. In response to British concerns, in 1853 an act of the Parliament of the Province of Canada introduced the gold standard into the colony, based on both the British gold sovereign and the American gold eagle coins. This gold standard was introduced with the gold sovereign being legal tender at £1 = US$. No coinage was provided for under the 1853 act. Sterling coinage was made legal tender and all"
"held as reserves. Pound sterling The pound sterling (symbol: £; ISO code: GBP), commonly known as the pound and less commonly referred to as Sterling, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, the British Antarctic Territory, and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 ""pence"" (singular: ""penny"", abbreviated: ""p""). A number of nations that do not use sterling also have currencies called the ""pound"". Sterling is the third most-traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar, and the euro. Together with"
"cover the Bank of England's costs. There was also increased quality control within the Royal Mint; by 1866, every gold and silver coin was weighed individually. The result of these efforts was that the sovereign became, in Sir John Clapham's later phrase, the ""chief coin of the world"". The California Gold Rush and other discoveries of the 1840s and 1850s boosted the amount of available gold, and also the number of sovereigns struck, with £150 million in sovereigns and half sovereigns coined between 1850 and 1875. The wear problem continued: it was estimated that on average, a sovereign became lightweight"
"₤0.95 = 105.26 coins — an agio of 5.26 sovereigns. Agio Agio (Italian ""aggio"") is a term used in commerce for exchange rate, discount or premium. The variations from fixed par values or rates of exchange in the currencies of different countries. For example, in most countries that used the gold standard, the standard coin was kept up to a uniform point of fineness. In particular, a freshly minted English sovereign was in a fixed relation to freshly minted coins of other countries: 1 ₤ = 25.221 francs = 20.429 marks = US$4.867, etc. This rate, known as the mint"
"gold or where the paper currency value of a country fell below the bullion that it ostensibly represented. In the process of use, coinage deteriorates over time, and its value falls below the nominal value. To illustrate, suppose that this reduction in the value of the pound is 5%. Reflecting their nominal value, 100 sovereigns in England would be accepted as a payment in full for 100₤ debt. Payment of debt outside England is based, however, on the physical state of the coin. In this case each coin is valued as ₤0.95, and payment of ₤100 debt requires ₤100 /"
"Pound sterling The pound sterling (symbol: £; ISO code: GBP), commonly known as the pound and less commonly referred to as Sterling, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, the British Antarctic Territory, and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 ""pence"" (singular: ""penny"", abbreviated: ""p""). A number of nations that do not use sterling also have currencies called the ""pound"". Sterling is the third most-traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar, and the euro. Together with those three currencies"