eBay Guides - Gold Sovereigns Part 2 George IV, William IV, Victoria

The Gold Sovereign - Part 2
This follows on from our original Gold Sovereigns eBay guide, but as we are limited to 10 images per review, we have had to split our guide into sections.
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George IV
There were two different designs of sovereigns issued for George IV.

Laureate Head
The first type, with a large portrait of the king with a laurel wreath was engraved by Benedetto Pistrucci. Most people consider all Pistrucci's work as masterpieces, but we actually prefer the second, bare head portrait. The reverse is Pistrucci's very famous and much loved St. George and Dragon design, it differs from those of George III in that the surrounding garter has been removed.

Bare Head
This portrait was engraved by William Wyon, from an original by Chantrey. We prefer this to the Pistrucci first head, in our view it is clean and neat, rather than somewhat fussy. The reverse dies were engraved by Jean Baptiste Merlen.

William IV
There is only one main design type of sovereign for William IV, although a second bust was used in 18363 and 1837, but the differences are only relatively minor.

Victoria
There are four main types of Victoria sovereign, the young head with shield reverse, young head with St. George reverse, jubilee head, and old head. In some years there were two or three major designs issued during the same year.

Young Head Shield Reverse
This major type was issued from 1838 to 1887 inclusive. There are many subtypes and varieties. There are also issues from the branch mints starting in 1871. All shield sovereigns were struck using coin alignment rather than medal alignment. Many people think they have found a sovereign with the head upside down, but see our page about alignment.

Young Head St. George Reverse
These were issued from 1871 to 1887 inclusive.

Jubilee Head
1887 was Victoria's Golden Jubilee year, and the new design was introduced for that event. It continued in use until 1893 inclusive.
Images to follow on third part of our sovereigns guide.

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