British Colonial - London: 1838-1874
Shield Sovereign - Queen Victoria

SPECIFICATIONS Denomination Sovereign Metal Gold 0.916 Alloy Ag/Cu 0.00 Diameter 21.9 mm Thickness 1.4 mm Weight Legal 7.99 gms Weight 7.92 gms Shape Round Edge Milled Die-Axis 180° Mint Royal, London

Obverse :Young Head of Queen Victoria to left. Hair bound with double fillet and collected up into a knot behind. Above along periphery legend VICTORIA DEI GRATIA . Engraver Willium Wyon put his initials W.W. in relief at the rear, below the truncation. Mint Year at bottom.
Reverse : The Ensigns Armorial within a plain shield and surmounted by a crown. A branch of laurel on either side. At bottom the Thistle, Rose and Shamrock are placed with a small flower stop each side. On left and right along periphery legend BRITANNIARUM REGINA FID: DEF: .

Note Queen Victoria Shield Sovereigns were minted with Mint mark just above the rose at the bottom of reverse.

Type	Royal Mint	Start	End	Mint Mark
Type IA	London	1838	1862	None
Type IB	London	1863	1874	None
Type IC	Melbourne	1872	1887	M
Type ID	Sydney	1871	1887	S

Shield type Sovereigns minted in London between 1863 and 1874 has the die number at the bottom just above the rose on reverse.

Year	Mintage	Year	Mintage
1852	8,053,435	1861	7,624,736
1853	10,597,993	1862	7,836,413
1854	3,589,611	1863	5,921,669
1855	8,448,482	1864	8,656,353
1856	4,806,160	1865	1,450,238
1857	4,495,748	1866	4,047,288
1858	803,234	1867	None
1859	1,715,142	1868	1,653,384
1860	2,555,958	1869	6,441,322

Sovereigns minted before 1852 would have been legal tender in Ceylon during the years from 1852 to 1869. Those minted after 1869 would also have been legal tender after the sovereign was relegalised in 1901. Years outside the range 1852 to 1869 would have only come to Ceylon in circulation, not by importation by Government of Ceylon.

In 1851 the Ceylon Government requested the sanction of the Home authorities to a suggestion by the Chamber of Commerce, Colombo, to increase the currency of the Colony by the addition of British gold coins. The Lords Commissioners of the Treasury ruled that a local ordinance was not necessary to give currency within the Island to the gold coins of the Realm which, as being issued from Her Majesty's Mint under Her Royal authority, were a legal discharge for the sums they represented throughout Her Majesty's dominions. This ruling was, however, subsequently considered incorrect, and an Order in Council and a Proclamation, both dated October 16, 1852, were issued declaring that the coins of the United Kingdom (viz., sovereigns, half-sovereigns, &c.) shall pass current in Ceylon, but reducing the legal tender limit of British silver to 40 shillings.

Ref: The Gold Sovereign. by M. A. Marsh.
1999, Cambridge U.K., 2nd ed. 118pp. Illustr. colour

The Sovereign was scanned at 600 dpi and displayed at 300 dpi It was won on eBay in 1999 April.