Mid-Century Sovereign Coin Combatted Counterfeiting

NGC - Forty years after they were taken out of circulation, Sovereign gold coins returned to market.

During World War I, gold coins stopped circulating within Great Britain. The Sovereign had been their standard gold coinage unit valued at one pound (or twenty shillings), but these coins were last made for currency use in Britain in 1917. By the late 1930s, the gold Sovereign was produced only ceremonially and included in proof sets commemorating the coronation of a new monarch.


1966 Great Britain Sovereign

The Sovereign came back to life in the late 1950s. From 1957 to 1968, Great Britain produced over 45 million Sovereign gold coins. But they weren't made for use in Britain. Instead, they were issued to combat a scourge of counterfeit coins flooding foreign markets.

This history is well described in "Sovereign Fakes," an article in the July 2004 Numismatist by Robert Matthews, retired Assay Master for the British Royal Mint. After the Sovereign ceased to be used in Britain, it continued to circulate in Greece and the Middle East, Matthews explained. Of all the gold coins used in these markets, Sovereigns were the most preferred unit and they traded at a significant premium to their metal content.

Since Sovereigns were no longer being produced but there was strong market demand for obsolete issues, counterfeiters stepped in to fill the void. Clandestine mints in Syria, Italy and Switzerland produced fake Sovereigns of varying quality, all of which had different prices in local markets.

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