Owner Comments:
GT. BRITAIN, ELIZABETH II (Second Issue), GOLD SOVEREIGN 1968
(Marsh 306; S 4125).
OBVERSE: Bare head of the Queen facing right with tie at the back of hair, the letters M.G. incuse at the bottom.
REVERSE: St. George with streamer flowing from helmet mounted and slaying the Dragon with a sword.
DESIGNERS: Obverse: Mary Gillick. Reverse: Benedetto Pistrucci.
DIAMETER: 22.05mm.
WEIGHT: 7.988 g.
FINENESS: 22 carat.
MILLESIMAL FINENESS: 916.66.
EDGE: Milled.
MINTAGE: 4,203,000
RATING: C (M.Marsh).
ELIZABETH II, SOVEREIGN, 1968.
Queen Elizabeth II has ruled for sixty years in 2012 and is the second-longest reigning monarch in British history after Queen Victoria. If she rules beyond the 10 September 2015, Queen Elizabeth will become the longest reigning British monarch. In her long reign Queen Elizabeth’s coinage has been through several portrait changes, more so since decimalisation in February 1971. The young head portrait by Gillick continued on most issues until the 1967 dated coins, with one last final issue for a commemorative 1970 proof set. The Maundy coinage presented each Maundy Thursday continues to carry this young head portrait to the present time. It has become rather worn and touched up on the master tools and famously in 2002 when issued in gold for the Golden Jubilee proof sets, some of the Maundy Twopences literally had no nose on the portrait as the dies were engraved so weakly and shallow. The first Sovereign of the reign was an excessively rare 1953 proof Sovereign as part of a set of record for Institutional collections only, consisting of a gold Five Pounds, Two Pounds, Sovereign and Half-Sovereign. One set was sold some decades ago by one of the Institutional owners, and has since been broken up into individual coins and sold. At least two extra single proof Sovereigns are in private hands, though one of these was stolen and presumably melted many years ago. If one should ever come up for sale it would be one of the most valuable modern British gold Sovereigns.
QUEEN ELIZABETH II
The Reign of Queen Elizabeth II (House of Windsor) : 1952- .
Born: 21 April 1926.
Accession: 6 February 1952.
Married: Philip of Greece and Denmark, 20 November 1947.
Coronation: Tuesday, 2 June 1953.
Children: three sons, one daughter.
Celebrating her Diamond Jubilee Year 2012.
1968 GOLD SOVEREIGN MS 65
A fresh original GEM uncirculated example, fully struck and fully lustrus.
NGC: Pop 6 with none grading higher.
Purchased from ebay 28 June 2011.