Sovereign (British coin).The sovereign is a legal-tender gold coin of the United Kingdom with a nominal value of one pound sterling. Struck from 1817 until the present time, it was originally a circulating coin accepted in Britain and elsewhere in the world; it is now a bullion coin and is sometimes mounted in jewellery. In most recent years, it has borne the well-known design of Saint George and the Dragon on the reverse (pictured), created by Benedetto Pistrucci. Issued as part of the Great Recoinage of 1816, it not only became a popular circulating coin, but was used internationally, trusted as a coin containing a known quantity of gold. From the 1850s until 1932, the sovereign was also struck at colonial mints. With the start of the First World War in 1914, the sovereign vanished from circulation in Britain, replaced by paper money, and it did not return afterwards. In addition to its bullion use, it has been struck since 1979 for collectors.
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