The Royal Mint, the official maker of U.K. coins, has today launched the full 2023 sovereign commemorative collection following His Majesty King Charles III’s coronation.
The Coronation sovereign will be the only 2023-dated commemorative sovereign available this year that will feature the official crowned coinage portrait of King Charles III.
To mark this historic moment in British history, the reverse of the sovereign will depict its famous and globally recognizable depiction of St George and the dragon design by Benedetto Pistrucci. The obverse will feature the first crowned coin portrait of His Majesty as a special nod to The King’s coronation.
The official crowned effigy of His Majesty The King has been designed by artist and sculptor Martin Jennings—the first crowned effigy of His Majesty to feature on a coin. The crowned portrait of King Charles III has already appeared on the coronation coin range launched before His Majesty’s coronation and is reserved for significant royal events such as coronations or jubilees.
“Following His Majesty King Charles III’s coronation on 6 May, we are delighted to be introducing the full Sovereign Commemorative Collection, which for the first time in its history, will feature His Majesty’s crowned coin portrait on the obverse,” said Rebecca Morgan, the collector services director at the Royal Mint. “We anticipate this sovereign to be in high demand among collectors, due to it marking such a monumental moment in history as well as the addition of the crowned portrait of His Majesty. The 2023 sovereign is a wonderful way to celebrate and mark this new chapter in British coinage history.”
In 1489, Henry VII ordered a “new money of gold” that would serve to symbolize the might of the Tudor dynasty. That large gold coin was The sovereign, and it has since evolved to become one of the world’s most distinctive and recognizable coins. More than 500 years after its inception, the ‘chief coin of the world’ still shares a close relationship with the Crown and has become a flagship coin for the Royal Mint.
The full Coronation Sovereign Commemorative Collection will be available in a range of collectable sets as well as individually from the Royal Mint’s website, royalmint.com/sovereign. The five-sovereign piece and piedfort sovereign will also be available to collectors to buy in July.
Alongside the Royal Mint’s 2023 Sovereign Collection, a historic sovereign set will also be available for collectors to buy. This exclusive three-coin set brings together sovereigns from three milestone years of His Majesty King Charles III’s life, including a 1958 sovereign from the year that Queen Elizabeth II made her eldest son His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. A 2022 memorial sovereign marks the year in which he acceded to the throne and is one of the first sovereigns to bear the official coinage portrait of the King while the 2023 coronation sovereign features the first crowned coinage portrait of King Charles III.
A range of Bullion Coins to celebrate the Coronation will also be launched in the coming months.