![George III, Sovereign, 1817 [ECM-200a] - Image 2](https://colonialcoins.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/ECM-200a-1.jpg)
Description
George III of the House of Hanover, King of the United Kingdom 1760-1820 AD, Gold Sovereign (7.81g, 22mm), 1817, Tower mint, London. Obverse: Laureate head of George III facing to the right, date below, legend surrounds, “GEORGIUS III D:G: BRITANNIAR: REX F:D:”. Reverse: Saint George, wearing plumed helmet and billowing cloak, mounted atop his horse which rears right above a fallen dragon, he wields a broken lance, the tip remains embedded and half of the shaft rests to the left on the exergual ground-line above mint master’s initials ‘wwp’ (William Wellesley Pole) incuse, mintmark central on exergual line, buckled garter bearing the motto “HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE” surrounds, engraver’s initials ‘B.P’ (Benedetto Pistrucci) incuse on buckle. Marsh-1. Mintage of 3,235,239. An evenly worn example of the foremost date sovereign and an essential addition to any sovereign collection, further, the 1817 has seen ever increased interested and desirability as time goes on with similar examples trending in auction for AU$2800-3300 (incl. BP), details near Fine.
The obverse Latin legend reads unabridged as “Geōrgius tertius, Deī grātiā, Britanniārum Rēx, Fideī Dēfēnsor”, with an English translation of “George the Third, by the Grace of God, King of the British People, Defender of the Faith”. The reverse legend on the shield garter is the motto of the British chivalric Order of the Garter and is stated in full in Middle French / Anglo-Norman as “honi soit qui mal y pense”, with an English meaning of “shame on anyone who thinks evil of it”.
