William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, introduced their baby boy to the public on Tuesday, July 23, 2013, one day after his birth. The Royal Mint also just unveiled its official commemorative coin of the Royal Birth, noting that 30% of the allotted mintage sold within the first few hours.
Struck in a proof finish especially for collectors, limited to 10,000 and priced at £80.00, the commemorative 2013 UK £5 Silver Proof Coin uniquely features the sovereign design that is traditionally restricted to gold coins.
"As befits a baby that is destined to be sovereign, we have chosen a design made famous on the most royal of coins, the Sovereign itself," the Royal Mint describes. "St. George and the dragon, instantly recognizable, has been struck in silver for the first time in over 100 years, on a £5 crown-sized coin — beautiful, impressive and very special."
The year ‘2013’ is found below the St. George and dragon design, which was created by Benedetto Pistrucci almost 200 years ago.
Coin obverses show Ian Rank-Broadley’s portrait of Her Majesty the Queen. Surrounding inscriptions read ‘ELIZABETH II’, ‘D’, ‘G’, ‘REG’, ‘F’ ‘D’ and ‘FIVE POUNDS’.
Pistrucci’s St. George and dragon design first appeared on a silver crown in 1818. It would later make its way onto Sovereigns of Queen Victoria in 1871, according to the Royal Mint. In 1887, the design was once again on silver crowns. They were last minted in the coronation year of Edward VII.
Each £5 silver coin is struck to a purity of .925, weighs 28.28 grams and has a diameter of 38.61mm.
2,013 Gold Sovereigns Struck on Day of Royal Birth
In related coin news, the Royal Mint said they struck just 2,013 of their flagship 22-karat Gold Sovereigns on the day of the Royal Birth, July 22, 2013.
"The Sovereign is perhaps the most royal of coins, created for Henry VII in Tudor times and named for the monarch. As we welcome the future sovereign it is fitting that this majestic coin plays its part in the celebrations," noted the Royal Mint on its website. "On the day of the birth we struck a limited number of Sovereigns — 2,013 to be exact, reflecting the birth year of the first child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge."
The Mint is exclusively making these available to collectors for £800.00.
The special Royal Birth Gold Sovereigns and the Royal Birth 2013 UK £5 Sovereign Silver Proof Coin may be ordered directly from the Royal Mint website at www.royalmint.com or by calling +44 (0)845 60 88 222 (United Kingdom), 1-866-519-7298 (United States) or 1-866-924-0861 (Canada).
disgraceful £800 quid for a bullion sovereign. these can be bought for £230. It’s not even mint marked or proof quality.
The Royal Mint is also selling its 2013 Gold Proof Sovereign with exactly the same design for £450.00 as compared to the outrageous £800.00 for one of the 2,013 Gold Sovereigns Struck on Day of The Royal Birth. The gold content of a sovereign is 0.2354 troy oz. That means for the £800 coin, the price of gold would have to rise to $5,221.75/troy oz. for that coin to be equivalent to its intrinsic gold content. The price of Gold closed today in London on 24 July 2013 @ $1,335.00 per troy oz.
Does anyone think the silver sovereign is worth it? silver would have to go to >$120/oz. But its a silver sovereign. I cant decide.
Both the Gold & Silver coins mentioned in the news article have sold out at the Royal Mint. They are now reselling on ebay for over twice their original issue prices. The Silver Proof £5 Crown Coin is the better deal, because its reverse design of St. George vs. the Dragon has not been minted on a UK silver coin in 111 years since the coronation year of King Edward VII in 1902. The special 2,013 Gold Sovereigns Struck on Day of Royal Birth are distinguished by only their white coin cases & accompanying certificate. Otherwise, those so called “special”… Read more »
Although the Royal Mint has sold out all of its Gold & Silver coins mentioned in the news article, the £5 Sterling Silver Crown can still be purchased for $152(SGD) from The Singapore Mint @ http://www.singaporemint.com/product_info.php?product_id=1402
Too late now. The Singapore Mint has just sold out all of its allotment of the Royal Mint’s Royal Birth £5 Sterling Silver Crowns.
On ebay today Tuesday July 30, 2013 @ 09:34:07 PDT, a Royal Birth £5 Sterling Silver Crown sold for the outrageous price of $471.00! That’s 3.86X more than the Royal Mint’s original issue price of £80.
For those numismatic coin collectors who would like to own the historic Royal Mint’s Royal Birth £5 Sterling Silver Crown, it can be ordered from Australian coin dealer, Downies.com @ http://www.downies.com/searchedproduct.aspx?name=AV092 Item #AV092. Description: GB 2013 £5 St George & The Dragon Royal Baby Silver Proof. Price: AUD $149.00 It has not been since 1902 that the last sterling silver crown coin featured on its reverse side Benedetto Pistrucci’s design of Saint George and the dragon. That occurred 111 years ago for the coronation year of Queen Elizabeth II’s great-grandfather, King Edward VII. Therefore the 2013 £5 sterling silver crown… Read more »
Just got my gold birth sov and its so nice I know it’s a bullion coin but it as had lots of care and the package is nice also the coin came in plastic worth it
As of yesterday Thursday August 15, 2014,The Royal Birth £5 Sterling Silver Crown, can no longer be ordered from Australian coin dealer, Downies.com @ http://www.downies.com/searchedproduct.aspx?name=AV092
Item #AV092. Description: GB 2013 £5 St George & The Dragon Royal Baby Silver Proof.
Price: AUD $149.00.
I bought the silver one.
Later discovered it had a dint below the R of REG between the letter and the Queens head looks like another dot, but its not round in shape. I didn’t expect to find this minor fault on another great coin minted by the Royal Mint.
Error coin? Rare?