Victoria Young Head on 1871 Sovereign

The Gold Sovereign Changes Designs
In 1871, there were two types of gold sovereign designs issued, both with the young head of Queen Victoria, one with the so called "shield back" design. This sometmes happens when a design is changing that two designs are issued in the last year of the outgoing design, and the first year of the incoming design, but shield sovereigns continued in production until 1887, and the new St George design from 1871 to 1887 inclusive. The coin we show is the older shield design, mainly because it happens to be a photograph of an exceptionally nice condition coin.

Reverse of 1871 Shield Sovereign