5 - 1820 King George III Sovereign (1817-1820)
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S.3785C ('Type C') : The standard 1820 currency sovereign ascending colon, with space between REX and F:D: Open '2' within date.
1820 Type C George III Sovereign incorporates all the slight modifications for the first time, type B legend, ascending colon after BRITANNIAR: and space between REX and F:D with the more defined curls as seen in the above 1820 example. Although nearly confined to just the 1820, these are said to exist for 1818 and but can be considered as extremely rare, there are no known examples of the type C sovereign for 1819.
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Shown in negative above the difference between Type A coarse hair on the left, and the more defined or tighter curls of Types B, C on the right.
The 1820 sovereign becomes quite complex with at least 5 known slightly different date formats, and a number of recently discovered sub varieties. Although there appears to be more which at first glance can be confusing to the collector. The main variations being large date leaving very little space between the start and end point of the legend or the slightly thinner date where a defined gap can be seen accompanied by a closed, open or even a nearly closed '2'.
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The slightly scarcer variety seen is the shorter date variety, best described as the digits used being one size smaller that of the legend itself and only seem to appear with the closed or nearly closed 2. This type is classified by Marsh as Rare which is probably a little generous given these are not too difficult to find.
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Large Date with Open '2'
Much neater Date with Closed '2'
The date type which is most definitely extremely rare is that of the Roman I very few of these have come to light since first discovered in 1980. Significantly one of the few sovereigns not to have appeared in the Bentley collection.
Total recorded mintage for 1820 : 2,101,994
Despite King George III's death on 29th January 1820, sovereigns bearing his effigy were struck right up to December of that year.
The total number of sovereigns struck for the reign of King George III, totalled : 7,688,037 all were struck at the New Tower Mint in London.
Master of the Royal Mint 1814-1823 : William Wellesley Pole
King George (1817-1820) - Part 1
King George (1817-1820) - Part 2
King George (1817-1820) - Part 3