1998 and 1999 Sovereigns

[Aldebaran]

Have I got this right?

Just checking some mintage numbers and the above and it says 10,000 each year (plus a few for sets) and that they were all proof.

Whereas 1979 is 9 million+.

Quite a difference there🤣

[evende]

28 minutes ago, Aldebaran said:

Have I got this right?

Just checking some mintage numbers and the above and it says 10,000 each year (plus a few for sets) and that they were all proof.

Whereas 1979 is 9 million+.

Quite a difference there🤣

 

[Spyder]

1998 are 10000 + 1349 in sets

1999 are 10000 + 1903 in sets 

From 1983 to 1999 only proof sovereigns were minted.

[Skybadger]

Someone got a 1999 for £390 on Ebay 3 days ago 👀

 

[Aldebaran]

7 hours ago, Skybadger said:

Someone got a 1999 for £390 on Ebay 3 days ago 👀

 

I hope that this was you!!!!

[Aldebaran]

7 hours ago, Spyder said:

1998 are 10000 + 1349 in sets

1999 are 10000 + 1903 in sets 

From 1983 to 1999 only proof sovereigns were minted.

I had no idea😁.

 I assumed that there was some kind of parity each year, but obviously not.

 I wonder where all the1979’s are, more interesting is why were so many minted?

Maybe they wanted to ‘pave the streets with gold’ 💫

[Petra]

7 hours ago, Skybadger said:

Someone got a 1999 for £390 on Ebay 3 days ago 👀

 

Well, they think they did😮🤔

[Skybadger]

9 minutes ago, Aldebaran said:

I hope that this was you!!!!

No I only checked after reading this post. Goes to show there are sometimes bargains to be found on there. 

[Aldebaran]

9 hours ago, evende said:

 

This is interesting, my Marsh book shows 10,000 for 1999, (2021 revised edition). 

[andrewse]

Should collect the 90s and late 80s sovs does wonders for the bank balance (diet wise)  I should know as that's my current addiction haha

[evende]

On 06/05/2023 at 08:31, Aldebaran said:

This is interesting, my Marsh book shows 10,000 for 1999, (2021 revised edition). 

Mines the previous edition so must have been updated - apologies!

Edited May 7, 2023 by evende

[Aldebaran]

3 hours ago, evende said:

Mines the previous edition so must have been updated - apologies!

No apologies necessary - I probably managed to quote the only mistake in the entire book😁

[Britannia47]

On 06/05/2023 at 08:08, Aldebaran said:

 

 

 I wonder where all the1979’s are, more interesting is why were so many minted?

 

Interesting question indeed!  What happened to 9.1 million sovereigns in 1979? It’s a mystery why there was such a spike in the minted numbers. 

Perhaps a one off demand from the U.S. to pay off the loan of Liberty ships to the U.K. during WW2 or similar?

Either way there are only 9,099,999 left, because Iv’e got one!👌😀…..

 

 

 

[Aldebaran]

5 hours ago, Britannia47 said:

Interesting question indeed!  What happened to 9.1 million sovereigns in 1979? It’s a mystery why there was such a spike in the minted numbers. 

Perhaps a one off demand from the U.S. to pay off the loan of Liberty ships to the U.K. during WW2 or similar?

Either way there are only 9,099,999 left, because Iv’e got one!👌😀…..

 

 

 

Haha, I was going to say ‘you can knock another off the tally’, but ours is a proof  one (without it’s papers) and there were 50,000 of those!!!
How weird, maybe someone in the know knows😂

[Aldebaran]

5 hours ago, Britannia47 said:

Interesting question indeed!  What happened to 9.1 million sovereigns in 1979? It’s a mystery why there was such a spike in the minted numbers. 

Perhaps a one off demand from the U.S. to pay off the loan of Liberty ships to the U.K. during WW2 or similar?

Either way there are only 9,099,999 left, because Iv’e got one!👌😀…..

 

 

 

Maybe it was something to do with the oil crisis in 1979.

Dad was flight crew for BOAC then British Airways and he used to speak about having to take gold to actually pay for the fuel in the Middle East, maybe it was sovs? 😎

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Britannia47 said:

Interesting question indeed!  What happened to 9.1 million sovereigns in 1979? It’s a mystery why there was such a spike in the minted numbers. 

Perhaps a one off demand from the U.S. to pay off the loan of Liberty ships to the U.K. during WW2 or similar?

Either way there are only 9,099,999 left, because Iv’e got one!👌😀…..

 

 

 

 

7 minutes ago, Aldebaran said:

Maybe it was something to do with the oil crisis in 1979.

Dad was flight crew for BOAC then British Airways and he used to speak about having to take gold to actually pay for the fuel in the Middle East, maybe it was sovs? 😎

Another possibility is that the Exchange Control Act was repealed in 1979, meaning UK individual could legally own gold again. Britannias weren't introduced until 1987.

Sovereigns were indeed very popular in the Middle East. There are stories everywhere about British operations there being supported with those. Also the Arabs preferred male monarchs on the coins, i.e. Edward VII and George V, and you see a lot of hallmarked Arabic impression of George V sovereigns in the gold shops there.

Edited May 8, 2023 by Guest

[Britannia47]

31 minutes ago, SeverinDigsSovereigns said:

 

Another possibility is that the Exchange Control Act was repealed in 1979, meaning UK individual could legally own gold again. Britannias weren't introduced until 1987.

 

Yes, that sounds plausible. Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister in 1979 as well, so perhaps 9.1 million sovereigns were minted in anticipation of increased demand, with relaxation of ownership. The previous Labour government hated private ownership of gold. Just wait until Kier Starmer gets in and puts VAT on gold!! and the Chancellor sells off the remainder of our gold reserves🙁

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Britannia47 said:

Yes, that sounds plausible. Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister in 1979 as well, so perhaps 9.1 million sovereigns were minted in anticipation of increased demand, with relaxation of ownership. The previous Labour government hated private ownership of gold. Just wait until Kier Starmer gets in and puts VAT on gold!! and the Chancellor sells off the remainder of our gold reserves🙁

Doesn't seem to be the right place to talk politics here, but it seems that, although the Tories screw up from time to time, most Labour mistakes have long lasting effects. Constitutional fiddling like devolvement and House of Lords Act, and Brown's dip. Don't forget Brown's raising top income tax rate to 50%, and 13 years on the Conservatives haven't been able to cut it back to 40%. People hate it when the richer section of the society get a tax cut, and it echoes that they'd rather the poor were poorer than the rich were richer. 

On the subject of Blair... He did win a landslide (one of the very few Labour PM to win a majority) and was later elbowed by Brown, and now he's hated in retrospect. His economic policies were basically Tory, but his constitutional vandalism did uphold the Labour tradition.

Edited May 8, 2023 by Guest