Sovereigns With Non Standard Reverses

When I was about 11 the 500th anniversary of the first hammered sovereign occured and for it they released a special sovereign with a tudor style obverse and a tudor rose design on the reverse. I was in awe of this coin, I used to receive "coin monthly" from my gran and read it cover to cover but my pocket money was negligible and there was no chance of me to ever own such a coin.

Then later on as I worked in a pawnbroker I began to see sovereigns as just their weight in gold. I put an interesting collection together with mintmarks that I saved from the melting pot... and then unfortunately I had cause to melt them all myself when gold was high and I was down on my luck.

Anyway, these events have led to me always having a fascination with regards to commemorative type sovereigns, having missed my chance with the 1989 coin (I have bid on them but they are now a good premium above the gold price) I am a bit of a sucker when they release any special ones... something they seem to be doing with increased frequency, 2002 with a shieldback, unusual st georges on 2005 and 2012, and this year a coat of arms.








So these are my latest additions, they fall in a space between collecting and investing. I like them as coins but see them as gold... a store of value that due to its liquidity would always be the first thing to leave should it be required.

I also hope they produce these special sovereigns as rare treats because everytime they do I have to buy them... and with the 50ps and £2 designs I think they overdid these to the point I lost all interest...just as America with their State Quarters went straight into parks etc and lost me there too. Too much of a good thing...