Description
The British sovereigns of King George V feature a portrait of the king modelled by the Australian-born sculptor Bertram Mackennal, along with the classic depiction of St George slaying the dragon on the reverse.
Although George V reigned until 1936 – twenty five years – only eight dates of sovereign were ever struck in London. The start of the First World War effectively marked the end of gold coins in daily circulation; sovereigns were minted in London until 1917, and then again in 1925, but they did not circulate as currency after the First World War.
Minting of sovereigns did continue in the gold-rich territories of Australia until 1931 and South Africa until 1932. The Royal Mint had established branches in those countries to convert Gold Rush bullion into useable gold sovereign coinage.
The gold sovereign in 1924
In 1924 no sovereigns were minted in Britain, however sovereigns were still being minted in Australia at the Royal Mint branches in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
Both Sydney and Melbourne produced fewer than half a million coins each in that year, while the mint at Perth minted just over 1.46 million coins. The Royal Mint had maintained identical standards of fineness and weight regardless of where the coin was produced – so a coin minted in Melbourne was identical in all respects to one minted in London.
The only minor difference is that each of the colonial coins carry a small mintmark to differentiate them from each other and from the London minted coins (which carry no mark). On the coins of King George V this mintmark can be found on the ground, immediately below the hooves of St George’s horse, above the year-date. The coins of 1924 feature either a small ‘P’ mark (for Perth), an ‘M’ mark (for Melbourne), or an ‘S’ mark (for Sydney).
