The Hoard Limited (scottishantiques.com )

The very first sovereign coin was produced by the Royal Mint for Henry VIII in 1489. The currency that Henry had minted was double the weight of the initial English gold currency, the Spur Ryal. This was a reaction to a significant surge of gold entering Europe from West Africa during the 1480s.

It is thought, therefore, that this original sovereign, being far too valuable to be of great transactional value, was meant as a display piece or as a gift for foreign dignitaries, indeed there are also examples of double sovereigns from this period that weighed a full troy oz used for this purpose.

Following the accession of James I and VI in 1603, a new coin was struck to replace this original sovereign. James reduced the gold weight by about 10% thus making a relatively useful twenty-shilling piece known as the Unite, thus ending the run of the original sovereign.

Following the Napoleonic Wars and the concurrent hoarding of gold, the Coinage Act of 1816 placed Britain on the gold standard. The privy council met and recommended new coins, the reason being that the guinea, which had replaced James' unite, having the value of 21 shillings was generally unpopular because of its odd value. The new twenty-shilling piece was named the sovereign thus resurrecting the antiquated coin and bringing the sovereign that collectors today know and love into existence.

Sovereign cases were developed during the 19th century as a sophisticated means of both storing and carrying high value half and full sovereigns. We have a wide range of gold sovereign cases for sale.