1 Sovereign - Elizabeth II 1st portrait (1957–1968)

One row for each year the 1 Sovereign - Elizabeth II 1st portrait was struck. Prices are medians of verified sold listings matched to that year from the listing: circulated is worn condition up to Extremely Fine, uncirculated is About Uncirculated or better. A count in brackets means fewer than three sales behind the figure; a grey figure marked "type" is the median across every year, shown where that year has no sale of its own yet; years with no sales yet fill in as sales are recorded. Most types have been searched year by year only since October 2026, so later years are still filling in. Use the grade table below for a price by condition across all years.

About the 1957 1 Sovereign - Elizabeth II

The 1957 1 Sovereign - Elizabeth II is a circulating 1 sovereign coin issued from 1957 to 1968 in the Sovereign series, struck in 91.67% gold. It weighs 7.99g and measures 22.05mm across. Reverse design: St George on horseback slaying the dragon right, date in exergue.

Mintage figures are recorded for 10 years between 1957 and 1968, 45,583,000 coins in all. 1959 is the scarcest date, with 1,358,000 struck.

Common questions

History and design

Regular sovereign production had lapsed for nearly two decades when the Royal Mint resumed it in 1957. The Mint says the revival answered a growing demand made evident by counterfeiters' success, with forgers who set up equipped factories with networks reaching Switzerland, France, Germany and Greece. Wikipedia adds that the Treasury chose to defend the sovereign both by prosecutions and by issuing new pieces with the current date.

The Royal Mint calls the 1957 coin the first mass-produced 22 carat gold sovereign of the reign. Dates run 1957 to 1959 and 1962 to 1968. Chard's figures total 45,610,228, from 1,385,228 in 1959 to 8,700,000 in 1958.

The obverse is Mary Gillick's portrait of the Queen. Under the proclamation of October 1953 the gold legend became ELIZABETH • II • DEI • GRATIA • REGINA • F: D:, and the Royal Mint notes that BRITT OMN, present on the 1953 sovereign, was dropped owing to the changing status of many Commonwealth territories.

The reverse is Benedetto Pistrucci's St George and the dragon, with the date in the exergue. The edge is milled.

Varieties and errors

The 1957 date has a finer milled edge. Chard counts 169 grains against 108 on other Elizabeth II sovereigns, which makes a 1957 identifiable from the edge alone. No mint errors are documented for this type.

Collecting notes

These were bullion coins rather than everyday money; Coins of the UK says the 1957 revival was prompted by Middle Eastern forgeries and warns that some forgeries are of good quality. Check weight, edge and the sharpness of St George before buying. From 1966 the government required a Bank of England licence to hold gold coins, a rule Wikipedia says was abandoned in 1970.

The Gillick sovereign ended in 1968, and Wikipedia records production resuming in 1974 with Arnold Machin's portrait. For the unissued Coronation-year piece with BRITT OMN, see the 1953 sovereign.