George V 1917 Sovereign London Mint MS63

George V (1911-1936),gold Sovereign, 1917, London Mint, bare head left, B.M. on truncation for engraver Bertram Mackennal, Latin legend and toothed border surrounding, GEORGIVS V D. G. BRITT: OMN: REX F. D. IND: IMP:,rev.St. George and the Dragon, date in exergue, B.P. on upper right of exergue for designer Benedetto Pistrucci, edge milled (Bentley 363; MCE 645; Marsh 219 R3; Bull EGC 1440 R3; Fr 404B; KM 820; S.3996).Toned with some light flecks, graded by NGC as MS63 and the rarest 20^thCentury London Sovereign.

NGC Certification 5780511-001.

Mintage 1,014,714.

The Latin legends translates on obverse as "George the Fifth by the Grace of God, King of all the Britons, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India."

Despite the calendar year mintage of over one million pieces there are scant few survivors of the 1917 London issue and it is also one of the most widely faked London mint Sovereigns, this piece is of course guaranteed to be one of the genuine survivors. This date is one of the most in demand being the last of the World War I years.

The Royal Mint Museum's researcher Mr Chris Barker recently delivered part one of an excellent lecture on the scarcity of some of the sovereigns of the earlier war years and what occurred in World War II with payments in gold, and why Sovereigns were later issued in the reign of George VI with the George V design of 1925. This lecture can be watched at the British Numismatic Society website via You Tube hereChris Barker, 'In case of emergency': the return of sovereign production after the Second World War - YouTube