A gold sovereign is worth about $940-1,000 as of late 2026, with gold near $4,000 a troy ounce, and a half sovereign about $470-510. Every sovereign struck since 1817 contains 0.2354 troy ounces of pure gold in a 22 carat alloy, so the bullion value is the same for a Victoria sovereign from 1890 and an Elizabeth II sovereign from 2015. The great majority of sovereigns that people inherit or find are common dates from 1871 to 1932 and from 1957 onward, and they sell within a few percent of the gold price. A smaller group, mostly early Victorian shield-reverse coins, the rare Ottawa and Sydney issues of the 1910s and 1920s, and modern proofs, sell for hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars above the gold.
The sovereign is also the most counterfeited gold coin in the world, and the counterfeits range from gold-plated brass that fails a scale to full-weight 22 carat copies made in the Middle East in the 1950s that trade as bullion. Checking the weight, diameter and thickness is the first job with any sovereign, before the date is even considered.
Quick answer
- Full sovereign: 7.988 grams, 22.05 mm, 0.2354 oz pure gold, about $940-1,000 as of late 2026. Half sovereign: 3.994 grams, 19.3 mm, about $470-510.
- Common dates (most Victoria St George reverses, Edward VII, George V to 1932, Elizabeth II from 1957) sell at gold plus about 2-8 percent.
- Mint mark is a small letter on the ground above the date on the St George reverse, or below the shield: M, S, P, C, I, SA. London has none.
- Worth checking: shield sovereigns before 1875, 1908-C to 1916-C, 1917 London, 1920-S to 1926-S, 1937 proof, 1989 proof.
How to identify and value a sovereign, step by step
- Weigh and measure it. A genuine full sovereign weighs 7.98 grams new and no less than about 7.93 grams after a century of wear. It is 22.05 mm across and about 1.5 mm thick. A half sovereign is 3.99 grams and 19.3 mm. A coin that is the right weight but thicker or wider than that is not gold. A magnet should have no effect at all. Our guide to how to tell if a gold coin is real covers the ping test and the rest.
- Read the monarch. Victoria (1838 to 1901) in three portraits: young head, jubilee head with a small crown (1887 to 1893) and old or veiled head (1893 to 1901). Edward VII (1902 to 1910). George V (1911 to 1932). George VI only as a 1937 proof. Elizabeth II (1957 to 2022) in five portraits. Charles III (2022 onward).
- Read the reverse. Most sovereigns show St George on horseback slaying the dragon, by Benedetto Pistrucci. Victoria young head coins up to 1887 also exist with a crowned shield in a wreath, and those shield sovereigns are the ones that most often carry a premium. Some modern commemorative years use a different reverse.
- Find the mint mark. On the St George reverse it is a small letter on the ground line just above the date: M for Melbourne, S for Sydney, P for Perth, C for Ottawa, I for Bombay (1918 only), SA for Pretoria. On shield sovereigns it is below the shield. No letter means London. The Australian and Canadian branch mints struck sovereigns from 1871 to 1932, and some of the rarest sovereigns are branch mint coins.
- Read the date and check it against the list below. The combination of monarch, reverse type, mint mark and date is the whole identification. A George V St George sovereign with no mint mark dated 1911 to 1915 is about as common as a sovereign gets. A 1916 with a C above the date is one of the rarest.
- Judge the condition honestly. Sovereigns circulated as money until 1914 in Britain and later in the colonies, so most Victorian and Edward VII coins show wear on St George's helmet and the horse's flank. Modern bullion sovereigns are usually uncirculated. Wear matters for the collector dates and barely at all for a common bullion coin.
- Look for mounting and cleaning. Many sovereigns were set in rings and pendants. A solder mark on the edge, a bent rim or a polished surface drops a collector date to bullion and takes a few percent off a bullion coin.
- Check the dealer buy price for gold. A bullion dealer buys common sovereigns at about 1-3 percent under the gold value and sells them at about 3-8 percent over. That spread is the real market for most sovereigns.
What sovereigns sell for
The following prices are for genuine coins as of late 2026, with gold near $4,000 an ounce. "Bullion" means within about 10 percent of the gold value, which is where most sovereigns sit. Collector prices assume Very Fine for Victorian and Edwardian coins and uncirculated for later ones.
| Sovereign | Typical sold price, as of late 2026 |
|---|---|
| Common full sovereign, any monarch, worn or uncirculated | $950-1,050 (bullion) |
| Common half sovereign | $480-540 (bullion) |
| Victoria young head, St George reverse, 1871-1887, common dates | $980-1,100 |
| Victoria young head, shield reverse, 1871-1887 (London, M and S) | $1,000-1,400 |
| Victoria young head, shield reverse, 1838-1870 | $1,100-2,500; scarce dates such as 1841, 1859 Ansell and 1863 with die number more |
| Victoria jubilee head 1887-1893 and old head 1893-1901 | $960-1,100 |
| Edward VII 1902-1910 | $960-1,050 |
| Edward VII 1908-C and 1909-C (Ottawa, small mintages) | 1909-C $1,200-3,000; 1908-C, only 636 struck, $6,000-30,000 |
| George V, London and branch mints, 1911-1932, common | $960-1,050 |
| George V 1911-C, 1913-C, 1914-C (Ottawa) | $1,200-6,000 depending on date |
| George V 1916-C | $20,000-50,000 |
| George V 1917 London | $15,000-40,000 |
| George V 1920-S | $750,000 and more; four known |
| George V 1921-S, 1922-S, 1923-S, 1924-S, 1926-S | $1,500-60,000 depending on date and grade; 1921-S is the most affordable |
| George V 1925 London and 1925-SA | Bullion; the 1925 London was restruck in large numbers in 1949-1951 |
| George VI 1937 proof | $4,500-7,000 |
| Elizabeth II 1957-1968 and 1974-1982 bullion | $950-1,050 |
| Elizabeth II 1989 500th anniversary proof | $2,000-3,500 |
| Elizabeth II and Charles III proofs, most years | $1,100-1,600 in the original box with paperwork |
| Modern bullion sovereign, 2000 onward | $950-1,030 |
The common rows cover more than 95 percent of sovereigns in existence. A sovereign is first of all a quarter ounce of gold, and the honest expectation for an inherited one is bullion value, which at $4,000 gold is a meaningful sum on its own.
Full, half, double and five pound
| Coin | Gold content | Weight | Diameter | Typical price for a common date, as of late 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarter sovereign (2009 onward) | 0.0588 oz | 1.997 g | 13.5 mm | $250-290 |
| Half sovereign | 0.1177 oz | 3.994 g | 19.3 mm | $480-540 |
| Full sovereign | 0.2354 oz | 7.988 g | 22.05 mm | $950-1,050 |
| Double sovereign (two pounds) | 0.4708 oz | 15.976 g | 28.4 mm | $1,950-2,200; Victorian and 1911 or 1937 proofs far more |
| Five pound (quintuple sovereign) | 1.177 oz | 39.94 g | 36 mm | $4,800-5,400 for modern bullion; 1887 and 1893 Victoria $6,000-12,000 |
Half sovereigns carry a slightly higher premium over gold than full sovereigns because they are small, popular as gifts and more work for the mint per ounce. Victorian half sovereigns with the shield reverse and the rarer branch mint half sovereigns from Sydney and Melbourne in the 1880s have real collector value above the gold, often $600-2,000.
Counterfeits and what to do about them
Sovereigns have been copied for as long as they have existed. The three kinds to know about are:
- Plated base metal. Brass or tungsten cores with a gold wash. These fail the weight test, the diameter test or the magnet test, or all three. Tungsten copies get the weight nearly right but are the wrong size and do not ring.
- Full-weight 22 carat copies. Made in Lebanon, Syria and Italy from the 1950s, these contain the correct gold and were struck to pass as bullion in markets that priced sovereigns by the piece. They are usually common dates of George V and Victoria old head. They are worth their gold, which is to say almost as much as a genuine coin, but a dealer will pay only melt and a collector will not buy them. Soft details, odd lettering and a slightly wrong color are the tells.
- Modern collector fakes of rare dates. A genuine common 1911 sovereign altered to read 1916-C, or a cast copy of a 1920-S. These are rare but the stakes are high, which is why any sovereign that appears to be a rare date should be looked at in hand.
A jeweler or bullion dealer with an XRF analyzer settles the metal in seconds. The date and mint are a job for a coin specialist, and for the rare dates PCGS or NGC grading is the route to a sale at full value.
How WorthPic reads a sovereign photo
WorthPic runs on the newest and most capable AI model available, tuned for exactly this kind of identification. From a clear photo of each side it reads the monarch and portrait type, the reverse design, the date and the small branch mint letter on the ground above the date, and from those it identifies the exact issue. It judges wear from St George's helmet and the horse, looks for solder, bending and polishing, and gives an honest value range: gold value plus the usual small premium for the common dates, or a wider collector range when the date and mint are one of the scarce ones. Where the photo cannot show something, such as a mint letter lost in glare or a weight it has no way of knowing, it says so and asks for a close shot of the ground line above the date or a scale reading. It identifies and estimates. It cannot confirm that a coin is gold from a photo, and it says plainly that a full-weight counterfeit and a genuine coin can look alike. For a rare date, or for any sovereign a buyer questions, a dealer with XRF and then PCGS or NGC with the coin in hand is what settles it.
Common mistakes
- Treating every sovereign as a rare antique. Most are bullion, and bullion at $4,000 gold is about $950-1,000 per coin, which is a good outcome.
- Selling to a gold buyer who prices by weight at 14 karat rates. A sovereign is 22 carat, 91.67 percent gold, and should be paid at that purity.
- Missing the mint letter. A 1908 London sovereign is bullion; a 1908 with a C above the date is a $6,000-30,000 coin.
- Cleaning a Victorian shield sovereign. The collector premium on early coins depends on original surfaces.
- Assuming a 1925 sovereign is scarce because the mintage figures look low. Most 1925 London sovereigns were struck in 1949 to 1951 and they are common.
- Buying a rare date raw from a photo. The rare Ottawa and Sydney dates are the most altered sovereigns on the market.
- Confusing a half sovereign with a full one when pricing. The half is noticeably smaller, 19.3 mm against 22.05 mm, and holds half the gold.
What to photograph
- The reverse straight on, close enough that the ground line above the date fills part of the frame. This is the photo that settles the mint mark, which is the hard case for sovereigns.
- The obverse straight on, showing the portrait and the legend.
- The edge, which should be evenly reeded with no file marks or solder, and which shows whether the coin was ever mounted.
- The coin on a scale reading to at least 0.01 grams.
- The coin beside a ruler or a known coin for diameter.
- Any box, capsule or paperwork, which matters for modern proofs.
When to get it looked at in person
A common date sovereign does not need an expert; a bullion dealer or a coin shop will test it with XRF or a scale and pay close to the gold value on the spot, and that is the right route for most of them. A jeweler with XRF is the first stop for any sovereign whose weight or color is in doubt. A coin specialist, and then PCGS or NGC, is the route for early Victorian shield coins, any Ottawa or Sydney date from the 1908 to 1926 range, the 1917 London, the 1937 proof and any sovereign with mirror proof surfaces, because for those coins the collector premium is many times the grading fee. Sovereigns often turn up alongside other gold, and our guides to US gold coins and the Krugerrand cover the usual companions.