½ Sovereign - George III (1817–1820)

One row for each year the ½ Sovereign - George III 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 1817 Half Sovereign - George III

The 1817 Half Sovereign - George III is a circulating ½ sovereign coin issued from 1817 to 1820 in the Half Sovereign series, struck in 91.67% gold. It weighs 3.99g and measures 19mm across. Reverse design: Crowned shield of arms, legend around.

Mintage figures are recorded for 3 years between 1817 and 1820, 3,145,300 coins in all. 1820 is the scarcest date, with 35,000 struck. It is no longer legal tender (withdrawn 1891), so its value is to collectors only.

Common questions

History and design

The half sovereign returned in 1817 as part of the Great Recoinage, the first coin of that name for more than 200 years. The Coinage Act 1816 put Britain on a gold standard, and the 21 shilling guinea gave way to a 20 shilling sovereign and its 10 shilling half. The half sovereign entered circulation in September 1817, was proclaimed legal tender on 10 October 1817, and became the smallest gold coin in regular use.

It was struck dated 1817, 1818 and 1820. Coin Hunter records 2,080,197 for 1817, 1,030,286 for 1818 and only 35,043 for 1820. None is dated 1819, a year in which very little gold was coined while a plan to issue gold only as Bank of England ingots was considered and then abandoned. George III died in January 1820, but the Mint kept his head on the coinage for the rest of that year.

The obverse is the laureate head of George III with short curly hair, facing right, with GEORGIUS III DEI GRATIA and the date below. Benedetto Pistrucci, newly engaged by the Master of the Mint William Wellesley Pole, modelled the portraits for the new coinage.

The reverse did not share the sovereign's St George. It shows an angular crowned shield of the royal arms with the arms of Hanover on an escutcheon in the centre, and the legend BRITANNIARUM REX FID: DEF: (King of the Britains, Defender of the Faith). William Wyon engraved it, possibly from a Pistrucci design. The edge is milled, and the Royal Mint Museum's 1817 coin weighs 4 g.

Varieties and errors

Tony Clayton lists an 1818 over 7 overdate as a scarce variety. Proofs exist: the Royal Mint Museum holds an 1817 proof, and CoinVarieties notes a few proofs of both 1817 and 1818.

Collecting notes

1817 is the date most often seen and 1820, with about one sixtieth of the 1817 figure, the hardest. Check the 8 of any 1818 coin under magnification for traces of a 7. Hocking's catalogue of the Mint collection also lists pattern half sovereigns of 1816 and 1820, in gold and silver, which are separate pieces. The sovereign issued alongside it is the 1817 George III sovereign.

All gold struck before Victoria was called in by proclamation of 22 November 1890 and ceased to be legal tender from 28 February 1891.