The Double or £2 Sovereign, is an interesting and sought after denomination that is usually much rarer than its Sovereign counterpart and of course contains much more gold, being larger at 28 millimetres in diameter and weighing approximately 16 grams or half an ounce.

The very first Double Sovereign was struck in 1820 under the reign of George III, but this coin was not struck for circulation purposes, so it is the 1823 Double Sovereign from the reign of George IV, that takes the honour of being the very first circulated Double Sovereign in history.

The next £2 circulated Sovereign that was produced was in 1887, a gap of 64 years, a perfect illustration of how rare the early £2 denominations are.