1912M King George V Gold Sovereign Uncirculated

Description

The 1912M George V Sovereign was struck at the Melbourne Mint in the second year of the new reign, at a moment when the Commonwealth of Australia was itself barely a decade old and the world that had produced it was still largely intact – just two years before the catastrophe of the First World War would shatter the Edwardian order forever. George V had ascended to the throne in 1910 following the death of his father Edward VII, and the new Mackennal portrait was still fresh and crisp in the dies. The Melbourne Mint was producing sovereigns of exceptional quality in this period, and the 1912M is a date that combines solid collectability with the particular appeal of an early reign issue. That an example should survive over 110 years in fully uncirculated condition is a circumstance of considerable rarity and one that commands the attention of any serious collector of Australian gold.

Obverse: The left-facing portrait of King George V by Bertram Mackennal, with the legend GEORGIVS V DEI GRA BRITT OMN REX FID DEF IMP and the M mintmark for Melbourne – the portrait of a King at the outset of a reign that would prove among the most turbulent in British history.

Reverse: Pistrucci’s St George and the Dragon with the date 1912 in the exergue, presented here in the full depth of relief and sharpness of strike that only a coin untouched by circulation can deliver.

Grade: Uncirculated (UNC)