Description: King George V Gold Sovereign London Mint of 1925 ~The last sovereign of its kind ever issued in London ~22 Carat Gold ~A must have for any gold collections ADDITIONAL INFORMATION DIAMETER 22.05 mm METAL TYPE 22 carat gold 91.67% pure EDGE Milled (serrated) WEIGHT 8g YEAR OF ISSUE 1925 OBVERSE First Portrait of King George V facing left KingGeorge V Gold Sovereign of the London Mint of 1925 – The ‘Churchill sovereign’:the last British currency sovereignAlthough George V reigned until 1936 – twenty-five years – onlyfive dates of half sovereign and eight dates of sovereign were ever struck inLondon.The start of the First World War effectively marked the end ofgold coins in daily circulation; within just days of the outbreak ofhostilities in 1914, the British government issued Treasury Notes(banknotes) ascurrency and began the withdrawal of gold coin. By the summer of 1915 goldcoins had all but vanished from circulation.Although production of half sovereigns ceased in 1915 thesovereign continued to be minted until 1917. The coins were held as bankreserves and used to pay for war material. After the war ended, paper moneycontinued to take the place of gold as circulating currency.However in 1925, Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchillcontroversially put Britain back onto the Gold Standard. The Bank of Englandseized the opportunity to send a lot of worn and damaged gold coins that hadaccumulated in its vaults to The Royal Mint for melting down and re-mintinginto new coins. The 1925 gold sovereign was struck – eight years after the lastsovereign had been struck in 1917 – and it would turn out to be the lastever British currency sovereign, ending a 108 year tradition of circulatinggold.The coins were never released into circulation: although Britainwas back on the Gold Standard, it was deemed imprudent to issue gold as coinage. However, the 1925 sovereigns had been struck – the ‘Churchill’ Sovereign– and lay in the vaults of the Bank of England.It is possible these coins were given to those operating behindenemy lines in WWII as a form of emergency currency. After WWII, they were alsore-struck in 1949, 1951 and 1952 as gold bullion markets placed sovereigns inconsiderable demand,in the hope that a supply of genuine coins would satisfymarket demand and remove the premium that counterfeiters could earn. However,this gave rise to a remarkable situation. The sovereigns of 1925 carriedthe portrait of King George V, who had died over a decade earlier. Incredibly, this meant they were minted under the authority of a king whowas no longer alive.King George V Gold Sovereign London Mint of 1925 is one of thetwelve most important sovereigns as it is the last of its kind ever issued inLondon, and the story of its minting is unique in the history of British goldcoinage..
Price: 1150 USD
Location: Miami, Florida
End Time: 2023-12-06T19:36:27.000Z
Shipping Cost: 0 USD
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Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Circulated/Uncirculated: Uncirculated
Composition: Gold
Year: 1925
Certification: Uncertified