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While there are a lot of die varieties in the British Victorian shield series, there are fewer across the Australian shield sovereigns, and fewer still amongst the young head St George sovereigns.

In 2015, we encountered an interesting variety on the 1878 Melbourne sovereign, where the D of “Dei Gratia” in the legend of the obverse appears to have been struck over an inverted G. It’s a fairly obvious error, but few collectors are aware of it; indeed, until 2024, no publication, auction catalogue, website, or sales listing to my knowledge mentioned the coin. It wasn’t until the publication this year of Steve Hill’s Standard Catalogue to the Gold Sovereign that collector interest has been piqued.

While there are a lot of die varieties in the British Victorian shield series, there are fewer across the Australian shield sovereigns, and fewer still amongst the young head St George sovereigns.

While there are a lot of die varieties in the British Victorian shield series, there are fewer across the Australian shield sovereigns, and fewer still amongst the young head St George sovereigns.

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A normal D:G.

In 2015, we encountered an interesting variety on the 1878 Melbourne sovereign, where the D of “Dei Gratia” in the legend of the obverse appears to have been struck over an inverted G. It’s a fairly obvious error, but few collectors are aware of it; indeed, until 2024, no publication, auction catalogue, website, or sales listing to my knowledge mentioned the coin. It wasn’t until the publication this year of Steve Hill’s Standard Catalogue to the Gold Sovereign that collector interest has been piqued.

A sovereign with an upside down G over D.

While the exact number of D over G error sovereigns is not known, Mr Hill has assigned the coin a rarity rating of R7, indicating that between 11 and 20 examples known. I have identified six unique pieces over the last nine years, grading between PCGS AU53 and MS62. Two of these were sourced out of the United Kingdom, and one out of Germany. Another example was listed, unidentified, by a Western Australian dealer; that coin promptly sold before I could acquire it. If you’re a keen collector of sovereign varieties and errors, the 1878M D over G sovereign is a required coin to the set, and with so few examples available to coin collectors, will pose a real challenge to even the most dedicated numismatist.