The Sovereign Century Collection by The Royal Mint
Although we make up our our superior quality British gold sovereign sets, we also buy and sell various 'collections' marketed originally by the Royal Mint, including the "Century Collection"
The "Century Collection" appears to be a type collection of sovereigns issued during the 20th century. By "type" collection, we mean one sovereign of each major type, ignoring the different dates. As numismatists, coin dealers tuned in to the thoughts of coin collectors, we already collate our own, more complete type sets, our Complete Type Set offer. We feel the concept of a "Century Collection" is somewhat artificial, and presumably the product of a creative marketing department asking itself "what can we persuade people to buy", then creating a "product" to fill the demand they are about to create.
Contents
Each Century Collection contains one sovereign each as follows:
- Victoria Old Head, 1901
- Edward VII
- George V First Type Large Head
- George V Late Type Small Head
- Elizabeth II First Portrait, Second Issue
- Elizabeth II Second Portrait, Decimal Issue
- Elizabeth II Fourth Portrait, 2000.
Omissions
Excluded are the 1937 George VI sovereigns, which were only issued as part of 4-coin gold proof sets, and are quite expensive, and the Elizabeth II "Maklouf" portrait issued only as proofs, from 1985 to 1987 inclusive, and the single-date, proof only 1989 anniversary type. These are reasonable omissions, as the coins included are all normal circulation or bullion issues.
With almost any "type" set, there are minor types which could be included or excluded according to the individual collector's wishes or budget.
Price & Availability
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Description | Qty | Grade | Availability | Price £ | Price $ | Price €
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Uncirculated Sovereign Type Collection from 1901 to 2000, Royal Mint Box & Certificate | 7 | VF to Unc | Yes | £1,950 | $3,159 | €2,457
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Key to Table
Qty = Number of coins in set.
Save Money!
We do not know the Royal Mint's issue price of this set in 2002, but it would be a very safe bet to state that our price would have been far kinder to the buyer. A seven coin Royal Mint Mintmark collection is currently priced at £1,245; so our price shows a £250 saving compared with the Royal Mint's price, and we would repeat our advice that our own type sets are more complete, better selected, and better value than buying this second-hand Royal Mint Collection, but we like to offer a choice because everybody is different.
More Information
You can see photographs of all the different portraits in this collection, and others, on our Heads page, and of the reverse designs on our Tails page.
*Relevant Dates & Other Information
This page was first created in or around 2007. As it is no longer a simple matter for us to determine our original publication date of text on this page, in order to ensure our comments are considered in their historical context, we note the following, and will add any more data as it becomes available:
- All price comparisons were correct at the time of writing. For this set they were extrapolated from other price data as stated.
- The certificate bears a copyright date of 2002.
- The Royal Mint may not be offering any similar sovereigns or sets currently.
- We have a copy of our photograph dated 12th December 2007.
Government Wealth Warning
We wonder if some of the Royal Mint's offerings should come with a "Government Wealth Warning".
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