GOLD SOVEREIGNS: THE VICTORIAN AGE

If there is one monarch who epitomizes the sovereign more than any other (and during whose reign the coin reached the height of its renown and prestige), it is without doubt Queen Victoria.

Victoria is to this day the longest-serving monarch in British history, reigning for nearly 64 years, from 1837 and 1901. She presided over a period of British industrial growth, empire-building, and cultural expansion that saw the United Kingdom establish itself as the most powerful nation in the world.

The Victorian Age was a period of time which truly established the sovereign as a world-class gold coin.

The first of Victoria’s sovereigns were issued in 1838, carrying the attractive ‘young head’ portrait of the Queen. This variety is graceful in style showing the Queen’s hair gathered in a tight coil at the back of her head. This simple and uncluttered portrait flatters the Queen, who remarked of its designer, William Wyon, “you always represent me favourably”.

A new Ensigns Armorial was commissioned for the reverse of Victoria’s first sovereigns.

The royal arms is presented in a shield surrounded by a laurel wreath. Under the shield appears a conjoined rose, thistle, and shamrock, representing England, Scotland, and Ireland.

The second of Victoria’s sovereign types was issued in 1871. This retained Wyon’s young head portrait on the obverse, while reinstating Pistrucci’s St George and the Dragon on the reverse. For a number of years this second type was issued concurrently with the first ‘shield back’ sovereign type. But from 1875 onwards the shield reverse was dropped, and for the remainder of her reign the reverse of all Victoria’s sovereigns struck at the Royal Mint in London bore Pistrucci’s St George and the Dragon design.

In 1887 a new portrait of the Queen was introduced to mark her Golden Jubilee. For half a century Victoria had been immortalized on the British coinage as a teenager. The new ‘jubilee head’ portrait depicted a far more matronly Queen - fittingly so, since by this time Victoria was a 68-year-old widow.

In 1893 the jubilee portrait was replaced by another portrait of the Queen, by this time in her 78th year. This ‘veiled head’ portrait, used on sovereigns and other coins of the realm from 1893 until her death in 1901, shows Victoria wearing a coronet and long veil. The Queen is further adorned by the ribbonand star of the Garter. The reverse of the ‘veiled head’ sovereign remained unchanged, with St George still doing battle with the dragon.