King George V Half Sovereign

Half Sovereign King George V

The obverse features George V, while the reverse displays the classic St.George and Dragon design by Benedetto Pistrucci. All our pre-owned coins undergo strict quality checks by our team of experts to ensure their condition is excellent. The coins are issued without expensive presentation boxes to maximize the amount of gold for your money.

The coins will date between 1911-1926.

The picture illustrates the type of coin you’ll receive, not the exact item.

History and mintage

Despite coming to the throne in 1910, succeeding his father Edward VII, all coins minted in 1910 still featured the portrait of the former king. The new king wasn’t featured on the Half Sovereign until minting in 1911, which actually coincides with his coronation. Production of the Half Sovereign coin during George’s reign was inconsistent, to say the least, mainly due to the outbreak of the First World War. Very few were used as actual currency as the government sought to save money with paper issues. The last George V Half Sovereign minted by the Royal Mint was in 1915 as the Great War took its grip. However, due to the depth of the Empire, Half Sovereigns were still produced up until 1926 by colonial mints in South Africa, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney. Several years during 1915 and 1926 produced no coins at all. Mintage figures are highest in the first few years of George’s reign when all mints were producing coins, with annual montage hitting 6-7 million. After 1915, annual amounts are below 1 million which is why you’ll predominantly see Half Sovereigns minted at the start of George’s accession to the throne.

Our Expert Opinion

As with its larger brother the King George Sovereign, the George Half Sovereign strikes an excellent balance between low premium and historical appeal. The Half Sovereigns are less plentiful than the Full Sovereign version so their relative rarity can sometimes impact on premiums. For divisibility, the half Sovereign provides a perfect solution if you know you may need to sell your holding piecemeal. The coins also provide flexibility to pass down the generations if you have a number of children and grandchildren. For value, they can be a relatively economical way of owning Half Sovereigns, as they can actually be cheaper than the brand-new Half Sovereign much of the time, despite their added numismatic value. If you intend to invest larger amounts, the Half Sovereign is ideal as part of that portfolio but is best combined with larger coins such as the Britannia to keep the average price per gram down.