Description
The year 2022 has been an historic year in British royal history. Not only did we celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee in honour of her 70 years, but we also marked the 125th Anniversary of the Diamond Jubilee of her great great grandmother, Queen Victoria! The reigns of these two great monarchs are often compared, and for good reason: they are our longest reigning monarchs, and the impact of both women on British society has been profound. Victoria presided over huge industrial change and expansion of the empire, while Elizabeth’s reign has taken us into a whole new era of technological supremacy.
Now, in 2022, major commemorations for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee and Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, overlap!
To celebrate this, a new one-eighth sovereign coin has been produced to commemorate the 60-year jubilee of Queen Victoria’s reign. It’s also worth remembering that no other reigning British monarch, other than Queen Elizabeth II, has reached a Diamond Jubilee. Victoria was just 18 years old when she came to the throne, and 81 years of age when she died, reigning for almost 64 years.
Queen Victoria’s portraits as they’ve never been seen on gold sovereigns before
These new coins are significant for reasons other than their unique shape. Royal portrait enthusiasts will be excited to learn that each coin features a new adaptation of one of Queen Victoria’s original coinage portraits. These nineteenth century portraits of Victoria look superb with the improvements brought by twenty-first century technology in die-engraving.
However, it’s not just the quality and beauty of the portraits that makes these coins so compelling. Many of the portraits are appearing on coins that they have never been seen on before. Take for example, the half sovereign in this series features Queen Victoria’s ‘Bun Head’ portrait, which during her reign was used only on bronze coins (from 1860-1895). The quarter sovereign too, features the ‘Jubilee Head’ portrait, introduced for Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887 and used until 1893. This portrait appeared on the half sovereign, sovereign, double sovereign and five pounds during her reign, but there was no quarter sovereign. In fact, this portrait has never before appeared on a quarter sovereign making this coin the first of its kind.
The first one-eighth sovereign ever, with the portrait of Queen Victoria!
One of the most remarkable of the coins in this series is the smallest, the one-eighth sovereign.
This is a sovereign value that was never struck during Victoria’s reign. The new coin in this series is, therefore, the first coin of its kind ever to feature Queen Victoria! Its design is an adaptation of the celebrated ‘Young Portrait’ of Queen Victoria by William Wyon, which depicts her in her youth: it was of such quality that it was used for almost fifty years, by which time the Queen herself was almost seventy, giving it the distinction of being the longest used royal portrait in British coinage history. The fact that Queen Elizabeth II appears on the obverse of this coin creates an incredible historical link between our two longest reigning monarchs.
Each and every coin depicts our two longest reigning monarchs: Victoria on the reverse side and Elizabeth II on the obverse.
Benefit from the SELL OUT GUARANTEE
The 2022 Queen Victoria 125th Diamond Jubilee Anniversary Gold Fractional Sovereign Set will not exceed 1,897 sets and is also subject to our new SELL OUT GUARANTEE. What this means is that availability of this set will end on 31st August 2022. At that time, any sets that are unsold will be melted down and verified to that effect.
At that point, we will issue to owners of this set a new certificate stating the final mintage which may be lower, or possibly considerably lower, than 1,897. If the mintage remains at 1,897 then this means the set sold out entirely to keen customers, and if not, you may have secured for yourself a low mintage rarity.
Either way, there will be little or no surplus of this set on the secondary market and so the set you own will be a rarity in the gold sovereign series.
