Guide
Sovereign Value by Year: The Full Chart
Every year of the gold sovereign and half sovereign with mintage and the median realised price from verified sales — real hammer prices from the last twelve months, not asking prices, recalculated as new sales land. 807 verified sovereign sales sit behind the chart. Values shown blend all grades; scarce years with too few sales show a dash rather than a guess.
Last updated: 24 August 2026 · medians recalculate from live sales data
In brief. Most sovereign years trade close to their gold content — a full
sovereign holds 7.32 g of fine gold, which sets a floor that moves with the metal daily.
The years worth real money above bullion are the early strikes (1817 onwards), scarce Victoria
shield-backs and key branch-mint dates.
The strongest year in the current chart is 1831, with a
twelve-month median of £3,800.
For what your coin is worth, find its year below, then adjust for grade and mint mark.
Full sovereign value by year
Principal circulation strike per year. Median realised covers all grades sold in the last twelve months; years with fewer than 3 verified sales show a dash — click the year for whatever individual sales exist.
| Year | Monarch | Mintage | Sales (12m) | Median realised |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1817 | George III | 3,235,000 | 12 | £1,231 |
| 1821 | George IV | 9,405,000 | 26 | £1,200 |
| 1825 | George IV | – | 7 | £2,400 |
| 1831 | William IV | 599,000 | 3 | £3,800 |
| 1838 | Victoria | 2,718,694 | 5 | £1,600 |
| 1871 | Victoria | 8,767,250 | 23 | £1,114 |
| 1887 | Victoria | 797 | 50 | £982 |
| 1893 | Victoria | 737 | 18 | £831 |
| 1902 | Edward VII | 4,738,000 | 43 | £900 |
| 1908 | Edward VII | 636 | 0 | – |
| 1911 | George V | 30,044,000 | 77 | £874 |
| 1918 | George V | 1,296,033 | 1 | – |
| 1936 | Edward VIII | – | 0 | – |
| 1937 | George VI | 1 | 3 | £2,600 |
| 1957 | Elizabeth II | 2,072,000 | 20 | £950 |
| 1974 | Elizabeth II | 5,002,566 | 11 | £840 |
| 1989 | Elizabeth II | 23,471 | 20 | £1,850 |
| 1998 | Elizabeth II | 11,349 | 0 | – |
| 2002 | Elizabeth II | 75,264 | 5 | £1,150 |
| 2005 | Elizabeth II | 45,542 | 13 | £850 |
| 2009 | Elizabeth II | 398 | 0 | – |
| 2012 | Elizabeth II | 432,925 | 8 | £874 |
| 2013 | Elizabeth II | 94,790 | 0 | – |
| 2015 | Elizabeth II | 301 | 29 | £869 |
| 2016 | Elizabeth II | 45,000 | 1 | – |
| 2017 | Elizabeth II | 1,786 | 2 | – |
| 2018 | Elizabeth II | 323 | 0 | – |
| 2019 | Elizabeth II | 647 | 1 | – |
| 2020 | Elizabeth II | – | 2 | – |
| 2021 | Elizabeth II | – | 1 | – |
| 2022 | Charles III | – | 44 | £890 |
| 2023 | Charles III | – | 14 | £980 |
| 2025 | Charles III | 7,035 | 0 | – |
| 2026 | Charles III | – | 38 | £935 |
Half sovereign value by year
The half sovereign runs on its own market: half the gold (3.66 g fine) but its own scarce dates, and demand from collectors who specialise in the smaller coin.
| Year | Monarch | Mintage | Sales (12m) | Median realised |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1817 | George III | 2,080,100 | 9 | £600 |
| 1821 | George IV | 231,200 | 0 | – |
| 1823 | George IV | 224,200 | 0 | – |
| 1826 | George IV | 344,800 | 3 | £1,200 |
| 1831 | William IV | – | 0 | – |
| 1835 | William IV | 772,500 | 0 | – |
| 1838 | Victoria | 273,000 | 1 | – |
| 1887 | Victoria | 797 | 19 | £465 |
| 1893 | Victoria | 773 | 5 | £595 |
| 1902 | Edward VII | 4,244,457 | 35 | £456 |
| 1911 | George V | 6,104,000 | 36 | £431 |
| 1937 | George VI | 1 | 5 | £1,699 |
| 1980 | Elizabeth II | 86,700 | 24 | £500 |
| 1989 | Elizabeth II | 21,824 | 12 | £741 |
| 1998 | Elizabeth II | 7,496 | 0 | – |
| 2002 | Elizabeth II | 61,347 | 1 | – |
| 2005 | Elizabeth II | 30,299 | 4 | £620 |
| 2009 | Elizabeth II | – | 0 | – |
| 2011 | Elizabeth II | 500 | 0 | – |
| 2012 | Elizabeth II | – | 0 | – |
| 2014 | Elizabeth II | 62,000 | 0 | – |
| 2015 | Elizabeth II | 472 | 0 | – |
| 2016 | Elizabeth II | 3,661 | 0 | – |
| 2017 | Elizabeth II | 4,648 | 0 | – |
| 2022 | Elizabeth II | – | 8 | £600 |
| 2023 | Charles III | – | 2 | – |
| 2024 | Charles III | – | 1 | – |
| 2025 | Charles III | – | 0 | – |
| 2026 | Charles III | – | 3 | £687 |
How to read the chart for your coin
- Find the year and note the median — that is the market's centre across all grades, not a promise for your coin.
- Check the mint mark. A branch-mint strike (S, M, P, C, I, SA above the date) can be a different market entirely — see the mint marks guide.
- Judge the grade honestly. Worn common dates sit at bullion; high grades multiply. Start with the grading guide.
- Mind the floor. No genuine sovereign is worth less than its gold. The sovereign value calculator gives today's melt floor live.
- Authenticate before you celebrate. Scarce dates attract fakes — run the six-test check first.
Looking for the full story rather than the chart? This page is the year-by-year
reference. For history, tax treatment, buying and selling advice, see the main
gold sovereign values guide and the
half sovereign guide; for values by
reign, the monarch guides:
Victoria,
Edward VII,
George V,
Elizabeth II and
Charles III.
Featured sovereigns on MyCoinage
1 Sovereign - Victoria 1st portrait; Shield
up to £26,000
1 Sovereign - Elizabeth II 2nd portrait
up to £1,800
½ Sovereign - Victoria 1st portrait
up to £334
1 Sovereign - George V
up to £3,467
1 Sovereign - Edward VII
up to £1,277
1 Sovereign - Elizabeth II 1st portrait
up to £2,400
1 Sovereign - Victoria 1st portrait; St George
up to £6,250
½ Sovereign - George V
up to £1,750
½ Sovereign - Edward VII
up to £776
1 Sovereign - William IV
up to £6,000
½ Sovereign - Elizabeth II 4th portrait
1 Sovereign - Elizabeth II 4th portrait; with streamer
Frequently asked questions
Which sovereign years are worth the most?
From verified sales over the last twelve months, the standout years in our chart are the early rarities: 1817 (the first modern sovereign), the George IV and William IV years, and scarce Victoria shield-back dates. The highest-median year currently in the chart is 1831 at about £3,800. Most 20th-century years — George V especially — were struck in the tens of millions and trade near bullion value, which the chart makes obvious at a glance.
How is the value column calculated?
Each figure is the median of verified realised sales for that year over a rolling twelve months — completed auction and marketplace transactions, never asking prices. We show a median only where a year has at least 3 verified sales; scarcer years show a dash rather than an invented number, with a link through to the coin page where individual sales are listed. Medians rather than averages because one exceptional slabbed example would otherwise distort a year.
Why do some years show no value?
A dash means fewer than 3 verified sales reached our feed in the last year — common for scarce dates that only appear at auction occasionally. It does not mean the coin is worthless; often the opposite. Click through to the coin page to see whatever individual sales exist, or check the mintage column: a low mintage with no recent sales usually means a coin worth having valued properly.
Does condition change these values?
Enormously. The medians blend every grade that sold, from worn bullion-grade coins to slabbed mint-state examples. A common-date sovereign in circulated condition trades near its gold content, while the same date graded MS65 can fetch multiples of it. Treat the chart as the market's centre of gravity per year, then read our grading guide before pricing a specific coin.
Why is the bullion floor so important for sovereign values?
Every full sovereign contains 7.32 g of fine gold (0.2354 troy oz), so no genuine sovereign can be worth less than its melt value, which moves with the gold price daily. For the high-mintage years the melt value IS the price, give or take a small premium. The years where the chart median sits far above melt are where numismatic value lives. Our sovereign value calculator tracks the live floor.
Are half sovereign values just half of full sovereign values?
At the bullion floor, roughly yes — a half sovereign carries half the gold (3.66 g fine). Numismatically, no: the half sovereign series has its own scarce dates and its own collector base, and some half sovereign years are proportionally rarer than the same full sovereign year. That is why this page charts the two denominations separately rather than assuming a ratio.
Which mint marks matter for sovereigns by year?
From 1871 sovereigns were also struck at branch mints — Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Ottawa, Bombay, Pretoria — each with a mint mark above the date on the reverse. The same year can be common from London and rare from a branch mint: the 1908C Ottawa strike is a famous example. The chart shows the principal strike per year; see our sovereign mint marks guide for the branch-mint premiums.
How often does this chart update?
The medians recalculate from the realised-sales feed on every page load against a rolling twelve-month window, so the chart reflects the most recent verified sales rather than figures typed in once and left to age. Mintages are fixed historical figures from Royal Mint records via our catalogue.
Further reading
- Sovereign weight specifications — the numbers behind every authentication test.
- The 1817 first modern sovereign — where the chart begins.
- MyCoinage pricing methodology — how sales are collected, verified and aggregated.
- The Royal Mint — official mintage records.
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