What one is worth today
A gold sovereign contains 7.32 grams of fine gold, and on 21 September 2026 that was worth £761 at the London benchmark price. That figure is the floor. A common-date sovereign in worn condition is a bullion coin and sells within a few percent of it, whatever the date on the reverse.
The coins that sell for more are a short list, and the rest of this guide is about telling one from the other.
The specification
The sovereign has been struck to the same standard since the Great Recoinage of 1817, when Benedetto Pistrucci’s St George and the dragon first appeared on the reverse. The weight and fineness have not changed in more than two centuries, so a George III sovereign and one struck by the Royal Mint this year hold identical gold.
| Coin | Weight | Fine gold | Fine gold | Diameter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sovereign | 7.98805 g | 7.322 g | 0.2354 troy oz | 22.05 mm |
| Half sovereign | 3.994 g | 3.661 g | 0.1177 troy oz | 19.30 mm |
| Quarter sovereign | 1.997 g | 1.831 g | 0.0588 troy oz | 13.50 mm |
The half sovereign holds exactly half the gold and is dated by a different rule, because St George did not reach its reverse until 1893.
The fineness is 916.6 parts per thousand, which is 22 carat. The remaining 83 parts are copper, and that alloy is what gives a sovereign its reddish tone against the yellow of a 24 carat coin. Two larger pieces use the same alloy in multiples: the double sovereign at 15.976 grams holds 14.64 grams of fine gold, and the five pound piece at 39.94 grams holds 36.61 grams.
Weight is the first test on any sovereign. The tolerance is narrow, and a coin that reads 7.7 grams or 8.3 grams on a jeweller’s scale is wrong before anyone looks at the design.
Working out the bullion value
Three numbers give the answer: the fine gold content, the gold price per troy ounce, and the day.
The London benchmark on 21 September 2026 was £3,233.67 per troy ounce, which is £103.97 per gram of fine gold. Multiply by the fine gold content and the floor follows.
| Coin | Fine gold | Bullion value, 21 September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Quarter sovereign | 1.831 g | £190 |
| Half sovereign | 3.661 g | £381 |
| Sovereign | 7.322 g | £761 |
| Double sovereign | 14.64 g | £1,523 |
| Five pound | 36.61 g | £3,806 |
Gold has moved a long way in five years, so a figure quoted in an old guide is not a starting point. Take the day’s price, divide by 31.1035 to get the price per gram, and multiply by 7.322 for a full sovereign.
What a dealer actually pays
Nobody pays the bullion figure. The question is how far below it, and the answer depends entirely on who is buying.
| Buyer | What they pay for a common-date sovereign | On 21 September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Bullion dealer, published buy-back price | Spot less 1 to 3 percent | £738 to £753 |
| Coin dealer taking one or two coins | Spot less 3 to 6 percent | £716 to £738 |
| Jeweller or pawnbroker buying as scrap gold | 85 to 90 percent of spot | £647 to £685 |
| Cash-for-gold postal service | Below that again | Ask before posting |
Sovereigns are among the most liquid gold coins in the world, which is why the spread at a bullion dealer is so thin. A seller who accepts a scrap-gold price for a sovereign gives away around £90 per coin for no reason. Weigh the coins, count them, and ask for a price per coin rather than a price for the bag.
A sovereign is never scrap gold. It is a coin with a published buy-back price, and the two numbers are £90 apart.
The same logic runs the other way for buying. A dealer sells common-date sovereigns at a few percent over spot, so the round trip on a bullion coin costs 5 to 10 percent.
The dates that carry a premium
Scarcity comes from small mintages and from melting, and melting has done more damage than either war. Most sovereigns struck before 1932 went into a furnace somewhere, which is why survival rather than mintage decides the price of several dates.
| Coin | Why it sells above bullion |
|---|---|
| 1819, George III | 3,574 struck. One of the rarest British coins of any metal |
| 1817 to 1820, George III | The first modern sovereigns, collected as a type |
| 1838 to 1841, Victoria young head | Early issues, small mintages, few in high grade |
| 1879 London, St George reverse | The lowest mintage of any currency sovereign of the reign |
| 1917 London | 1,014,714 struck and nearly all melted. The rarest London sovereign of the twentieth century |
| 1937, George VI | Struck only as proofs for the coronation |
| 1989 | 500th anniversary design, proof only |
| Any date in uncirculated grade before 1900 | Grade rather than date does the work |
Everything not on that list, and not carrying a scarce mint mark, is a bullion coin. A George V sovereign of 1911 to 1932 is the commonest thing in the category, and there is no year of Elizabeth II or Charles III that is scarce.
Which years were struck at all, which were proofs and which carry no sovereign is set out period by period in sovereigns by year.
A reader with a date not listed here should check a current catalogue rather than an internet listing price. Asking prices on selling platforms are not sales, and sovereign listings are among the worst offenders.
Mint marks
Sydney struck sovereigns of its own design from 1855, and imperial-design sovereigns from 1871. Five more branch mints followed. The mint mark is a single letter, and on a St George reverse it sits in the exergue, the strip of ground below the dragon and above the date. On the shield reverse it sits below the shield, and on the early Australian issues below the bust on the obverse.
| Mark | Mint | Sovereigns struck |
|---|---|---|
| None | London | 1817 to 1917, 1925, 1957 onwards |
| S | Sydney | 1855 to 1926 |
| M | Melbourne | 1872 to 1931 |
| P | Perth | 1899 to 1931 |
| C | Ottawa | 1908 to 1919 |
| I | Bombay | 1918 only |
| SA | Pretoria | 1923 to 1932 |
Ottawa struck small numbers in most years and none at all in 1912 and 1915, so a C-mint sovereign is worth checking against a catalogue whatever its date. Bombay struck for one year only, and the 1918 I is collected as a type. Pretoria and the Australian mints ran to millions in some years and to a few thousand in others, which is why a date that is common from London can be scarce with a letter under the dragon.
Grade, and the shield reverse
Grade is the other half of the price for anything above bullion. A sovereign carried in a pocket is worn and worth its gold. The same coin uncirculated, with full lustre and no contact marks, is worth several times as much for many dates, and for the scarce dates the multiple runs into the hundreds. The grading guide explains the terms.
One rule matters more than the rest: never clean a gold coin. Gold does not tarnish, so there is nothing to remove, and polishing leaves hairlines that are visible under a lamp for the rest of the coin’s life. A polished sovereign is a bullion coin whatever its date.
Victoria’s sovereigns from 1838 to 1887 were struck with two reverses. The royal shield ran from 1838, and Pistrucci’s St George returned in 1871 and was struck alongside it until 1887. Shield reverses are catalogued by die number, are scarcer than St George coins in high grade, and carry a premium in several years. Turn the coin over before assuming a date is common.
Telling a fake from a real one
Counterfeit sovereigns exist in quantity, and the good ones are gold. A forger working in 22 carat makes money on the numismatic premium rather than the metal, so fakes cluster on the scarce dates and on the dates that sell to collectors.
Four checks catch nearly all of them.
- Weight. 7.98805 grams, within a few hundredths. A jeweller’s scale reading to 0.01 grams costs less than a sovereign.
- Diameter and thickness. 22.05 mm across. A caliper is the second tool worth owning.
- The ring. Balance the coin on a fingertip and tap it. Gold gives a long, high note. A plated or base-cored fake gives a dull one.
- The design. Compare the date, the mint mark and the lettering against a catalogue image at magnification. Cast fakes show soft detail and a seam on the edge; struck fakes show the wrong style of numeral.
A coin that passes all four and still looks wrong goes to a dealer or a grading service. Anything bought as a scarce date deserves that check before the money changes hands.
Tax, and where to sell
Sovereigns minted in 1837 and later are legal tender in the United Kingdom, and HMRC treats them as currency. Its Capital Gains Manual states that they “are currency but, like all sterling currency, are exempt because of TCGA92/S21 (1)(b)”. Any gain on selling them is outside capital gains tax, whatever its size. Sovereigns of George III, George IV and William IV, struck before 1837, are not legal tender and fall under the chattels rules instead.
For common dates, a bullion dealer’s published buy-back price is the route, and it takes a day. For rare dates, scarce mint marks and coins in uncirculated grade, a coin auction or a specialist dealer is where the premium is realised. What each route nets after charges, and the paperwork a buyer asks for, is worked through in selling gold sovereigns, and the price records give illustrative figures for graded examples. The auctions guide covers the charges before you consign anything, and the rest of the tin is in the old coins guide.