Branch Mints - Bombay India
Since 1871, British sovereigns were struck at branch mints, in addition to the Royal Mint in London.
The first branch mint to strike sovereigns was Sydney in Australia. It made good sense to produce British sovereigns close to the gold mining source areas, rather than ship the gold to London to be made into coin, then possibly ship it back again.
In 1872, the Melbourne mint followed.
The Perth, Australia mint started production of sovereigns in 1899, and the Ottawa mint in India started in 1908.
The Bombay mint in India struck sovereigns in just one year, 1918, and the Pretoria mint in South Africa started production in 1923.
Mintmarks
The mintmarks used by the various mints are as follows:-
The mintmarks are to be found on the ground above the centre of the date, at least for George V sovereigns. Many collectors find the mintmarks very difficult to find at their first attempt, but it really is quite easy once you know where to look. It helps of course to use a magnifying glass!
Our photographs show a 1918 Bombay India Mint sovereign, and a close-up of the date and mintmark.
Bombay Mint, India
The Indian Mint at Bombay only struck gold sovereigns for one single year 1918.
Dates Produced
Bombay Mint sovereigns were produced in the following year:-
Rarity
The rarity of a date is not quite in proportion to the mintage figures. Many are thought to have been melted down, some dates being affected more than others.
With any single-date issue such as the 1918-I sovereign, there is demand as a type coin in addition to demand for it as a date. This applies to mintmarks as well as design types, so there is for example more demand for the Bombay India mint sovereigns of 1918 than for any of the other mintmarks of that year.
For Sale
Rather than duplicate our listing of sovereigns for sale, we include the Indian Mint sovereigns which we have for sale on their appropriate page, being :-
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