1925 Gold Sovereign George V London

This 1925 George V sovereign is minted in London and is struck in 22 carat gold. The reverse bears Benedetto Pistrucci's traditional St George and Dragon engraving.

We try to maintain a stock of all dates of gold sovereigns, because 1925 is one of the more interesting dates of George V, we make an extra effort to ensure that we have some in stock.

The Last Sovereigns

Not every date exists for gold sovereigns. The London mint virtually stopped producing sovereigns after 1916, except for 1925. From 1917, the branch mints continued to issue most of the sovereign production. In 1925 a total of five mints issued sovereigns, London, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, and Pretoria mint South Africa.

The mintage for the 1925 London sovereigns is 3,520,431, excluding restrikes.

1925 Sovereign Restrikes

One of the most unusual facts about 1925 sovereigns is that in 1949, 1950 and 1951, the Royal Mint produced sovereigns, but instead of preparing new dies with George VI's head, and with the correct date, they lazily re-issued George V sovereigns dated 1925. Prior to this, 1925 London Mint sovereigns were quite scarce, especially in mint condition, suddenly they were again available. We deplore this kind of laziness from the Royal Mint, which does nothing to inspire confidence among collectors and investors that it will not repeat the same behaviour again. We can clearly recall that in the 1960s, we would often receive large quantities of gold sovereigns, all dated 1925 and all from the London Mint. We sometimes had as many as 500 pieces!

However, we believe that the restrikes can be distinguished from the originals by the more pronounced rim around the edge of the coin. Despite the lower mintage figures for the restrikes, the high-rimmed restrikes are actually much more common than the low-rimmed originals, due the fact that the originals were melted down in huge quantities for bullion.

1925 Restrike Sovereign Mintages

The obverse features the large head portrait of George V's bare head facing left, the portrait was designed by Australian sculptor, Bertram Mackennal. His initials B.M. are located in the truncation. The legend which surrounds the king's portrait reads:

GEORGIVS V D.G.BRITT:OMN:REX F.D.IND:IMP:

The reverse of the 1925 London mint sovereign features St George slaying the dragon. This classic design has featured on gold sovereigns since 1817 and is the work of Italian sculptor Benedetto Pistrucci. The initials B.P. sit to the right of the date in exergue.