Gold Sovereigns Poll - What’s your favourite era?

[Micky9776]

Hi all,

 

After reading a few comments the other day on the forum, a few members said they where interested more in the “modern” ones compared to the “older” ones and this got me thinking.

 

So I thought I would start of a poll just for a bit of fun / discussion and to find out what people’s interests are in. I will let it run for a week and it will close on the 23rd Feb.

 

Wether it’s your favourite monarch, favourite designs from that era or just the sovereigns you find most interesting to collect. 

 

I think I know that the Queen Victoria era will get the most votes 😂 but I may be proven wrong.

 

For me personally I like the Queen Victoria Jubilee head as it was the first sovereign I bought and hopefully one day will complete the full date run.

 

Please feel free to post comments on the reason / reasons on why you’ve chosen that specific era 😃

[dicker]

Sydney Type II for me!

Best

Dicker

[GoldStatue]

QEII era for me, loads of different designs/sizes/mintages to choose from and the most modern minting technology so (in theory) you should get the best quality product.

Also maybe easier to source the coins you need for your collection than say 200 year old coins where finding mint state coins requires a lifetime of patience.

[sstrrs]

Young Elizabeth and George V's moustache. I don't particularly like any of the others, though if you give me one I'll take it.

I don't really like the sickly tone of the modern ones. And of those, I really really hate the QE2 Fourth head.

I'll vote George V in your poll if you think Elizabeth II will win. 

[Heirlooms]

I'd go with the 1937 due to the rarity. Would've been good to see the Elizabeth heads split like the Victoria ones to see which effigies people prefer. I'd suspect the Gillick would come out on top

[stefffana]

I am thinking the modern coins are more accurate in gold content. I can bet it is difficult to find an old one made using exactly 0.9167 purity gold. About what king or queen, young or old, long beard or short neck, it is not important for me. So, my favourite is HM Elizabeth II. I will never pay more premium for an old sovereign, only because is gaining more history extrinsic value. Shine and cheap. 

[Micky9776]

6 hours ago, Heirlooms said:

I'd go with the 1937 due to the rarity. Would've been good to see the Elizabeth heads split like the Victoria ones to see which effigies people prefer. I'd suspect the Gillick would come out on top

Yea I know what you mean, I was going to split them up as well but then I was thinking it would of made it too big of a list but starting to wish I went with my instincts now 🤦‍♂️ Lol maybe that could be the next poll I could put out when this one is finished to see what people on the forum prefer out of the Elizabeth range 😃

[SidS]

For me it was either Victoria Young head (specifically shield reverses) or William IV, just because I like the designs of his coinage. I like this monarch because he's not popular.

I am in complete contrast to most of the comments above, the bullion sovereigns (i.e. the current Queen) are the least interesting to me as they weren't actually struck to be circulated as everyday currency.

When I did collect sovereigns my cast iron rule was nothing after 1914. As that was the last date that could have circulated in the UK.

I agree with the sentiment on Jubilee head sovereigns though, I always like the jubilee design as it probably looks the most 'Victorian' if that makes sense?

[Foster88]

My vote goes to George V. I like the variation for the different mints and the rarities of some of these. I'm surprised they've got so few votes.

If I had a second vote it would go to the Victoria Young Head, shield design.

[Micky9776]

26 minutes ago, SidS said:

For me it was either Victoria Young head (specifically shield reverses) or William IV, just because I like the designs of his coinage. I like this monarch because he's not popular.

I am in complete contrast to most of the comments above, the bullion sovereigns (i.e. the current Queen) are the least interesting to me as they weren't actually struck to be circulated as everyday currency.

When I did collect sovereigns my cast iron rule was nothing after 1914. As that was the last date that could have circulated in the UK.

I agree with the sentiment on Jubilee head sovereigns though, I always like the jubilee design as it probably looks the most 'Victorian' if that makes sense?

 

Yea I agree with some of the points above, I am in the process of completing the Edward head date run, I quite like the design and like you said he is also not as popular. Also personally I like my history and that’s another reason behind my choice, I would prefer a nice old sovereign with so much more history behind it than a one that has just been minted. Don’t get me wrong I still like the modern sovs and one day I will try and get a sov from each Elizabeth design 😃

[SidS]

To be honest the only QE2 sovereign that I wanted was the 1989.

I liked the design and it was so much cheaper than the Tudor ones!

[Micky9776]

4 minutes ago, Foster88 said:

My vote goes to George V. I like the variation for the different mints and the rarities of some of these. I'm surprised they've got so few votes.

If I had a second vote it would go to the Victoria Young Head, shield design.

I also thought this for the points you have said. If I had a second vote I would probs go with George V 😃

Sorry I have ran out of likes I can give out today but will hit the like button tomorrow 😂

[SidS]

2 minutes ago, Micky9776 said:

Yea I agree with some of the points above, I am in the process of completing the Edward head date run, I quite like the design and like you said he is also not as popular. Also personally I like my history and that’s another reason behind my choice, I would prefer a nice old sovereign with so much more history behind it than a one that has just been minted. Don’t get me wrong I still like the modern sovs and one day I will try and get a sov from each Elizabeth design 😃

I like the Edward VII coinage too, so very cool designs, the obverse is quite underrated actually, the 1902 strikes seem to have better detailing, it's subtle but really captures the king well.

[silenceissilver]

3 hours ago, SidS said:

For me it was either Victoria Young head (specifically shield reverses) or William IV, just because I like the designs of his coinage. I like this monarch because he's not popular.

I am in complete contrast to most of the comments above, the bullion sovereigns (i.e. the current Queen) are the least interesting to me as they weren't actually struck to be circulated as everyday currency.

When I did collect sovereigns my cast iron rule was nothing after 1914. As that was the last date that could have circulated in the UK.

I agree with the sentiment on Jubilee head sovereigns though, I always like the jubilee design as it probably looks the most 'Victorian' if that makes sense?

 

I thought they were officially withdrawn from circulation in 1917? Did they not circulate during WW1?

[Foster88]

25 minutes ago, silenceissilver said:

I thought they were officially withdrawn from circulation in 1917? Did they not circulate during WW1?

They were withdrawn from circulation in 1914.

[SidS]

I believe it's a bit of a gray area with regards to sovereign withdrawal.

Britain joined the war in the summer of 1914, within a few weeks the Treasury Banknotes were issued and there was a propaganda campaign launched to get people to swap their gold coins for the new notes, it would help fight the war and was the patriotic thing to do.

At this point banks stopped paying out sovereigns.

They continued to be minted through to 1917 though, firstly everyone thought the war would be brief and the gold coins would soon return, secondly they continued minting them to ensure there were plenty in the vaults, foreign payments etc. Which is how almost the entire London mint 1917 issue ended up in the US and then we're subsequently melted down during the 1930s.

I believe most gold coins disappeared from circulation at this time but they could feesibly have circulated beyond 1914 for a while. I do vaguely remember reading somewhere that by 1915 they were seldom seen. Obviously any that got paid into the banks didn't come back out!

So potentially the odd one here and there may have lingered into 1917 but it would be a very unusual thing by then.

1914 was thus my cut off date as, although some gold circulated in very limited quantity after this date, none of the 1915-17 issues were released to circulation in the UK.

The Australian issues however continued being released to circulation into the 1930s I believe.

[StackemHigh]

George V for me as there seems plenty of them at bullion prices when i'm buying.

[brithammered]

I'm going to have to go with the original sovereigns; Edward VI being particularly interesting to me.

[silvernewbie]

Definitely the young heads!  Have had a few pot luck ones when paying bullion prices