MODERN GOLD COINS

Welcome to our modern coin information page, by modern we mean all gold coins issued in the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. The story starts with the humble BU sovereign issued for the first time in 1957 and ends with an array of gold coins and sets available to the collector today.

QE II BU SOVEREIGNS

There were no gold coins of any type issued for collectors or otherwise until 1957 when the first BU and proof sovereigns were issued. Before we move on we must mention coins that were struck in 1953, there does exist at least one or two sets of proof coins from £5 down to half sovereign although these were not issued to collectors and remain the property of the realm. There were a very few proof sovereigns from this year, but they are of the very highest rarity. BU sovereigns have not been issued in every year and here is a list of the years available:

1957/1958/1959/1962/1963/1964/1965/1966/1967/1968/1974/1976/1978/1979/1980/1981/1982/2000/2001/2002/2003/2004

1958 QEII BU SOVEREIGNS

Proof sovereigns have also been struck for many but not all years of QEII reign those available are:
1957/1958/1959/1963/1979-2004

Early QEII Pre-Decimal Proof sovereigns are all extremely rare and are likely to set the collector back from about £3000 each, we concern ourselves many with proof coins of 1979 onwards.

QEII PROOF SOVEREIGNS SETS

Modern Proof sets came into being in 1980 when the first 4 coin set was issued by the royal mint this included £5, £2, Sovereign and Half Sovereign; this was followed up in 1981 by a whopping 9 coin set which included the base metal set of the day as well. More typical are the 3 and 4 coin sets which were supplied cased and certificated, and early sets have the famous St George and Dragon Reverse. They have been notable exceptions to this with the inclusion of a Pistrucci medal in the 1993 4 coin set, the special 500th anniversary sets of 1989 and a set including a gold version of the commonwealth games £2 in 1986. It is now common place to see differing designs and themes in today’s sets.

Examples of some Sovereign set designs since 1980.