This Sovereign was struck in the year in which the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was completed, the Currency and Banknotes Act was passed, leading to the first ever ten-shilling note and the Representation of the People Act was expanded to give all women over the age of 21, regardless of property ownership, the ability to vote.

During the second half of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, The Royal Mint established branch mints across the world near new sources of gold discoveries, rather than shipping the heavy metal to London. One of these opened in Pretoria.

This Sovereign was struck at the Pretoria branch of the Royal Mint and has a distinctive SA mint mark to denote this.

This ‘Extremely Fine’ Sovereign features a portrait of King George V on the coin’s obverse, created by Bertram Mackennal – a highly regarded Australian artist and a favourite of the king – and Benedetto Pistrucci’s iconic St George and the dragon design on the reverse.

18,235,057 Sovereigns were produced at the Pretoria branch mint in this year.