Description
British Empire, Australia, King George V (1910-1936 AD), Gold Sovereign (7.99g, 22mm), 1931 P, Royal mint, Perth branch. Obverse: Second smaller, bare Head of King George V facing to the left, engraver’s initials ‘B.M.’ (Edgar Bertram Mackennal) on truncation in relief, legend surrounds, “GEORGIVS V D.G. BRITT: OMN: REX F.D. IND: IMP:”. Reverse: Saint George, wielding sword and wearing plumed helmet and billowing cloak, mounted atop his horse which rears right above a fallen dragon, his broken lance remains half embedded and the shaft rests to the left on the exergual ground-line above mint master’s initials ‘wwp’ (William Wellesley Pole), mintmark central on exergual line, Engraver’s initials ‘B.P’ (Benedetto Pistrucci) and date in exergue. Bentley-877; McDonald-294; Marsh-270; Friedberg-40; Spink-4001; KM-29. Calendar year mintage 1,173,568. Soft reverse strike typical of the late Perth mint issues and minor rim nicks, otherwise a truly sublime piece, lustrous and visually appealing, choice Mint State.
The Obverse Latin legend reads “Geōrgius Quīntus, Deī Grātiā, Britanniārum Omnium Rēx, Fideī Dēfēnsor, Indiae Imperātor”, with an English translation of “George the Fifth, by the Grace of God, King of all the British People, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India”.
