1 Sovereign - Victoria 2nd portrait (1887–1892)

One row for each year the 1 Sovereign - Victoria 2nd 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. 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 1887 1 Sovereign - Victoria

The 1887 1 Sovereign - Victoria is a circulating 1 sovereign coin issued from 1887 to 1892 in the Sovereign series, struck in 91.67% gold. It weighs 7.99g and measures 22mm across. Reverse design: St. George on horseback slaying the dragon right, date and.

Mintage figures are recorded for 6 years between 1887 and 1892, 30,609,900 coins in all. 1887 is the scarcest date, with 1,111,200 struck.

Common questions

History and design

By the late 1870s Queen Victoria's coins still showed William Wyon's Young Head of 1838, and in 1879 the sculptor Joseph Edgar Boehm was engaged to model a new likeness. Work dragged on for years through many patterns, and the new gold and silver coins were finally released in June 1887, timed for the Golden Jubilee. A proclamation printed in the London Gazette on 17 May 1887 set the designs.

London struck the Jubilee Head sovereign from 1887 to 1892, beginning with 1,111,280 in 1887 and running at six to seven million a year from 1889. Melbourne and Sydney struck it from 1887 to 1893. Criticism of the portrait led to its replacement by Thomas Brock's Old Head in 1893.

Boehm shows the Queen facing left in a widow's veil, wearing the small diamond crown she preferred. The crown drew ridicule, and the Royal Mint Museum notes that widespread criticism meant the portrait was not used for long. Leonard Charles Wyon cut the dies from Boehm's models, and Boehm's initials J.E.B. appear on the truncation. The legend reads VICTORIA D G BRITT REG F D.

The reverse is Benedetto Pistrucci's St George on horseback attacking the dragon with a sword, the date below and B.P. for Pistrucci. Wikipedia notes that the streamer behind St George's helmet, removed in 1821, was restored in 1887.

Varieties and errors

Tony Clayton notes two main obverse types, with the colon after D:G: either far from or close to the crown, and differences in the initials on the truncation. From 1891 the horse has a longer tail on a retouched reverse, and goldsovereigns.co.uk reports a rare 1891 London coin still using the short-tail reverse. No recognised mint errors are documented.

Collecting notes

Check the reverse, between the design and the date, for a mint mark: M for Melbourne, S for Sydney, none for London. An 1893 Jubilee Head sovereign can only be a branch-mint coin. Goldsovereigns.co.uk notes that Young Head sovereigns, with both St George and shield reverses, also exist dated 1887, so check the portrait as well as the date.

The 1887 sovereign was also included in the Jubilee proof sets. Clayton warns that sovereigns have been forged extensively, so weigh and examine any example. The Jubilee Head was followed by the Old Head sovereign.