Sold Out at the Mint!
In August 2005, following gold bullion prices up by about 10%, the British Royal Mint announced imminent price rises on all its UK gold coins and gold coin sets, including proof and bullion sovereigns. Everywhere appears to have now sold out of the 2005 Proof Sovereign, however we do still have the uncirculated sovereign, uncirculated and proof half sovereigns and the three and four coin gold proof set in stock for immediate delivery.

During 2004, we wondered whether the 2005 sovereigns would have the familiar St. George and Dragon design, or a special single year one-off design.

New Old Design
In 1989 and again in 2002, the Royal Mint issued gold sovereigns with a different design, in each case for one single year only. These appear to have proved popular. The 1989 was available as a proof only, indeed no ordinary uncirculated sovereigns were issued from 1983 to 1999. Although from memory it only sold normally when it was first issued, it has seen increasing demand from the growing numbers of sovereign collectors. As the supply is limited, the prices of these sovereigns have been increasing, they now change hands at about double the original issue price.
The 2002 sovereigns for the Golden Jubilee were of a shield design, reflecting the similar device used in the early period of Victoria's reign from 1838 to 1871. Once again these were popular, time will tell whether they reach the price levels of the 1989's.

Updated St. George
We discovered in October 2004, that the new 2005 design will be a re-worked and stylised version of the traditional St George & Dragon design which has been used on sovereigns, with a few breaks, since 1817. The silver crown issued in 1935 for the Silver Jubilee of George V featured a stylised deco version of St. George and the dragon, which is sometimes called the "rocking horse crown". Although we were not around when it was issued, we can guess that it was not universally popular when it was issued, and opinion is still divided about its artistic and aesthetic merits. The Isle of Man also produce sovereigns with a St. George and dragon design, or a Viking and dragon, these seem to be popular.
We can predict that the new design will divide opinion, as do all new designs. We tend to be quite positive and receptive to new ideas and designs, and expect to like the new design when we see it. We also believe that the introduction of new ideas and designs is good as it stimulates discussion and interest in collecting coins in general. The traditionalists will no doubt prefer the existing St George design, others will prefer the new design. It is just possible that the combination of old and new will unite these factions, but it is more likely to create and deepen divisions.
One comment we heard was that the new design looked like Lord Farquar from the movie Shrek, not having seen the film, we could not possibly comment.

Release Dates
Uncirculated (Bullion) Version
The Royal Mint told us that our first delivery of 1,000 of the uncirculated bullion version, which we had already paid for, would be waiting for shipment as soon as they re-opened on Tuesday 4th January. We therefore expected to have them here by the next day, and are delighted to say they did indeed arrive in good time, so we now have these in stock.

Proofs Now Sold Out
Between 2000 and 2004, the proof version sovereigns have been released between January to June, we received our first delivery in February 2005 and sold out completely in November 2006. If you only need one please phone us as we may be able to get hold of one or two, however, if you need quantities I think we may struggle!

Issue Limits
For 2005, we expect an issue limit of a maximum of 100,000 uncirculated, the same as for recent years. We expect the issue limit for the proof version to be 15,000 or less.

Highest Ever Sterling Gold Price
Writing this on January 17th 2008 gold has just reached its' highest ever gold price in Sterling. Obviously this affects the price of our gold products so we have had to increase our uncirculated sovereign prices accordingly. The prices shown below are semi-fixed but should gold fluctuate dramatically in either direction we may have to adjust the prices once again.

2005 Gold (Bullion) Sovereign Prices

Uncirculated Version

Quantity	Price £	Price $	Price €
1	£160	$250	€195
10	£155	$240	€185
20 (Sheet)	£Ask	$Ask	€Ask
50	£Ask	$Ask	€Ask
100	£Ask	$Ask	€Ask
500	£Ask	$Ask	€Ask
1,000	£Ask	$Ask	€Ask

We also have leatherette cases available for the Uncirculated version, priced £2 each if ordered with coins.
We can also supply a Royal Mint display card at £1 ($2 or €1.50) each if purchased with sovereigns.

Proof Version
Prices
The Royal Mint's new price for 2005 proof sovereigns was £144.95, before they sold out, but we were offering 2005 proof sovereigns at competitive prices. However, as we have now sold out the next ones we have may have to be more expensive! If demand continues to rise for this issue, the prices may go through the roof in a similar manner to the 1989 proof sovereigns.
We will still accept orders at :-

Quantity	Availability	Price £	Price $	Price
1	Yes	£250	$Ask	€Ask
10	Yes - Ask!	N/A	$N/A	€N/A

We believe the 2005 issue will be very popular!

Postage & Packing

Per Delivery - Any Quantity
At Buyer's Risk £2.50, or...
Fully Insured £6
Airmail to USA $10
Insured to USA $20

Deliveries
We despatch most of our orders within 24 hours, although we do reserve the right to clear cheques before despatch. If your order is urgent for a gift, please tell us on the order form and we will do our best to help.

Notes

The fine gold content of a sovereign is 0.2354 troy ounces.