Owner Comments:
S-3996, Marsh 220
Acquired from: The Coin Cabinet, London
Means: Auction 75, Lot 48
Date: 10 January 2023
Critique: A very lovely example of this extremely common date. At this auction, there were at least a dozen other high grade 1925 sovs sold, so it's obvious that some dealer had an entire original roll graded all at once and just dumped them. Naturally that crushed the price on even the finest coins, and so I was able to acquire this one rather cheaply.
The 1925 gold sovereign has a rather interesting story. Mint records show that 3.5 million of them were produced in 1925, however almost all of these were delivered to the Bank of England for holding. They were subsequently melted down, thus making this a very rare date for collectors around that time. However, much later, during the reign of King George VI, nearly 900,000 coins were struck during the period from 1949 to 1952, all bearing the old portrait of King George V. Thereafter, the 1925 sov became extremely common, especially in high grades. The vast majority of 1925 sovs which survive today are undoubtedly from the post-WWII strikings. Some dealers claim that the two eras of 1925 sovs can be distinguished since the more modern ones were better struck and have more pronounced rims.