2025 Sovereign Collection
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2025 Sovereign Collection
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Struck in the year of Queen Victoria’s last public engagement, when she lay the foundation stone of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Victoria’s final effigy was commissioned and produced in 1893, when Victoria was 74 years old, and is often referred to as the ‘Old Head’ or ‘Veiled Head’ design. Created by Thomas Brock, it is the image of Victoria that often appears on pub signs across the United Kingdom. It is in this interpretation that she seems the most relatable. Although wearing the regalia of the empire – a diamond-and-sapphire tiara, a diamond necklace, pearl earrings – she seems at her most human.

Perhaps it is for that reason that the Old Head image is the one we tend to connect most readily to Victoria. She was queen and the face of an empire upon which the sun never set, but she was also a mother and a grandmother, as well as a passionate and artistic woman who bore the responsibility of her role for more than 60 years.

3,259,000 Sovereigns were produced at the Sydney branch mint in this year, with each coin bearing an S mint mark.

Specification

Specification Value
Denomination Sovereign
Alloy 22 Carat Gold
Weight 7.98 g
Diameter 22.05mm
Reverse Designer Benedetto Pistrucci
Specification Value
Obverse Designer Thomas Brock
Quality Circulating
Year 1899
Pure Metal Type Gold
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