The sovereign was a
gold coin of the
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from the late 9th century, when it was unified from various Heptarchy, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland to f ...
first issued in 1489 under
King Henry VII. The coin had a
nominal value of one
pound sterling
Sterling (symbol: £; currency code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of sterling, and the word '' pound'' is also used to refer to the British currency general ...
, or twenty
shilling
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...
s. The sovereign was primarily an official
piece of bullion and had no mark of value on its face. Nonetheless, it was the country's first coin to be valued at one pound.
The name derives from the large size and majestic portrait of the monarch (the "sovereign"), with the obverse of the first sovereigns showing the king's full face, sitting on a throne, while the reverse shows the
Royal Arms of England and a
Tudor double rose.
The first sovereigns were of 23-
carat (95.83%) gold and weighed 240
grains
A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit ( caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and le ...
, or half a
troy ounce.
King Henry VIII lessened the gold content to 22 carats, or 91.67%. Although this was part of what is called
The Great Debasement, 22 carats became the gold coin standard in both the British Isles and later the United States, known as
crown gold.
It had a diameter of , and weighed 15.55 grams (0.500 oz t), twice the weight of the existing gold coin, the
ryal. The new coin was struck in response to a large influx of gold into Europe from West Africa in the 1480s, and Henry at first called it the double ryal, but soon changed the name to sovereign. Too great in value to have any practical use in circulation, the original sovereign probably served as a presentation piece to be given to dignitaries.
[One pound in 1489 was equivalent to 33 days wages for a tradesman. Se]
historical currency converter
/ref> A double sovereign in the form of a piedfort was occasionally created for such purposes too.Royal Mint
Piedforts
The inscription reads
A DNO' FACTU' EST ISTUD ET EST MIRAB' IN OCULIS NRS—abbreviation for
''A DOMINO FACTUM EST ISTUD ET EST MIRABILE IN OCULIS NOSTRIS'' (Latin for "This is the Lord's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes", from
Psalm 118).
Replacement
King James I, when he came to the English throne in 1603, issued a sovereign in the year of his accession, but the following year, soon after he proclaimed himself King of Great Britain, he issued a proclamation for a new twenty-shilling piece called the
unite, symbolising that James had merged the Scottish and English crowns.
The unite, and then the other short-lived
laurel and
broad, therefore took the sovereign's place in the 17th century, before the
guinea
Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...
became established. However, the guinea changed value to 21 shillings in 1717. It was not until 1817 that the 20 shilling (one pound sterling) coin was re-introduced – again named the
sovereign
''Sovereign'' is a title that can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to ...
, now a British coin, which continues to be issued to the present day.
See also
*
Half sovereign – the gold coin equivalent to half an English (and later, British) sovereign
Explanatory notes
Citations
General and cited references
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*
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External links
Sovereign coins
{{Coins of England
1489 establishments in England
English gold coins