Test article

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.