The Royal Mint chose the release of the 2015 Gold Sovereign to announce another piece of news that means the Gold Sovereign will never be the same again after 2015.
In a move that is presumably designed to mark Her Majesty the Queen becoming the nation’s longest reigning monarch in September 2015, the Royal Mint has announced that the 2015 Gold Sovereign is the last ever Gold Sovereign to bear the current portrait of the Queen.
The current Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS effigy will be replaced by a new, yet-to-be-announced portrait, that will be decided after a closed design competition and it is understood that this will first be seen on commemorative issues, including the Gold Sovereign in September 2015.
The current portrait of Her Majesty is, of course, the fourth design over her 62 year reign. In 1953 her new coinage was released with Mary Gillick’s uncrowned portrait, although there were no Gold Sovereigns issued until 1957.
The Gillick effigy was refreshed in 1968 with an adaptation of Arnold Machin’s famous stamp design, whilst 1985 saw the introduction of Raphael Maklouf head, which adorned our coinage through to 1997.
It was then that Ian Rank-Broadley’s current portrait was introduced, capturing a more mature Queen with an engraving designed to really fill the full circle of the coin.
Of course, the announcement that the 2015 Gold Sovereign is the very last year to feature the current Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS portrait has had a significant effect on collectors with many rushing to make sure that they secure this important last for their collections.
If you’re interested…
You can secure the last ever Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS effigy gold sovereign today in a special DateStamp™ edition, which will be postmarked 1st January 2015 and limited to just 995 examples.