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Currency

Overdates on Sovereigns

Author: Lawrence Chard - Chairman and CEO

Published: 20 Feb 2018

Last Updated: 24 Dec 2022

Synopsis

An overdate on a coin is where a die has been recut or re-punched to alter the date. This may have been done for economy reasons, to avoid discarding a perfectly good die at the beginning of a new year, because of a lack of new dies, or to correct an error.

1880 gold full sovereign 1870 overdate young head st george and the dragon

Sovereign Overdates List

Overdates are quite rare in sovereigns, probably because the gold sovereign was the nation's premier coin. In lower denominations overdates used to be more common. There exist only three years for which overdates are known for British sovereigns, these are:-

Date Over Mint Type Notes
1843 1842 London Victoria Shield  
1872 1871 Melbourne Victoria Young Head St. George  
1880 1870 London Victoria Young Head St. George With B.P.
1880 1870 London Victoria Young Head St. George Without B.P.

Example Photograph - 1880/70

gold full sovereign victoria young head

gold full sovereign 1880 victoria young head

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