Know how to collect British Gold Coins

Posted by admin on July 30, 2011

British gold coins were first minted in 1489 when Henry VII issued first 20 shilling gold coin, with his portrait on it. Thereafter the minting was stopped when James I ascended the throne in 1603.

Those who have great interest in gold coins usually collect modern sovereigns. Early sovereign coins are very expensive and many people cannot afford to buy it. If you are fond of collecting coins, here is some basic information that will help you in your search for the perfect one.

Collect the British gold coins by reverse design:

These type of coins don’t cost too much in comparison with others. Most of the gold coins has a reverse design of St. George killing a dragon. But there is a time through the years that a shield reverse was used, for the royalties have different kinds of shields.

George IV, William IV, and Victoria used different kinds of shields on their coins. While Elizabeth II only has a shield reverse in two years, the time when it was the 500th anniversary of the sovereign. In 2005 she used a different design of St George slaying a dragon on the reverse design.

Collecting by mint mark:

Mint mark is a very tiny letter that can be found either above the date or beneath the portrait. This mark was used to identify the place where the coin was made. You’ll see letters like M, S, C, I, P, and SA. These letters stands for Melbourne, Sydney, Ottawa Canada, Bombay India, Perth, and Pretoria South Africa. From 1932, all sovereigns were made in London. So, if you see a coin that does not have any letter, it means that it was made in London.

Collecting by date:

This is the most expensive way of collecting British Gold coins. There are some coins in some years that happen to be the most expensive. This collection will include every year and every mint mark. This type of coins are very expensive because there were some years that produced rare coins such as the early sovereign coins. The older the sovereign coin is, it gets costlier and costlier. There are only a few collectors who can actually afford this collection.

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Collecting by portrait variations:

There are more than few different portraits on gold royalties during their reign. This is also a good way of collecting British gold coins. There are 4 portrait of Victoria, George VI had 1, and George V has 2, while Elizabeth has 5.

Collecting by monarch:

Most of the collectors have this kind of basic collection since royalties always had their portrait when minting a coin so it is easier to collect them. British gold coins especially for the numismatic are fascinating and beautiful, but there are some of the coins are expensive especially those early sovereign. Also remember that generally speaking the older the coin the larger its value is.