During the second half of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, The Royal Mint established branch mints across the world near to new sources of gold discoveries, rather than shipping the heavy metal to London. Three of these branch mints opened in Australia. 

This Sovereign was struck at the Perth branch of The Royal Mint and has a distinctive P mint mark to denote this. The mint in Perth was the last of the three Australian branches of The Royal Mint to open in 1899, following the successful establishment of branch mints in Sydney and Melbourne.

This ‘Extremely Fine’ Sovereign features a portrait of King George V on the coin’s obverse, created by Bertram Mackennal – a highly regarded Australian artist and a favourite of the king – and Benedetto Pistrucci’s iconic St George and the dragon design on the reverse.