Hand crafted original
This is the first time that original 19th-century tools from the Museum collection (The Royal Mint at Tower Hill), some of which were almost certainly used by Benedetto Pistrucci himself, have been used unmodified in the modern production process, revealing his dynamic masterpiece of St George and the dragon in all its glory.
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The birth of the modern sovereign also saw the introduction of one of the
most beautiful coin designs in numismatic history - St George and the dragon by
Benedetto Pistrucci. Graceful yet dynamic, it was a design so much liked that it graced the reverses of the new double-sovereign and £5 coin a few years later. Curiously, not until 1893 did Pistrucci’s St George finally appear on the reverse of the half-sovereign. There may have been sound practical reasons for replacing the usual Royal Arms but many would agree with the critic in the London Illustrated News who found the new half-sovereign ‘vastly pretty…by far the most artistic half-sovereign I have yet seen’.
Pistrucci himself made several changes to his design and, in the hands of Royal Mint engravers over its long history, the design has been adjusted in minor ways many times more - the streamer from the Saint’s helmet has come and gone and other elements have been modified too. For the 2010 coins, original tools were made available to the Royal Mint Engraving Team and the dies for this half-sovereign were made directly from the tools created for the half-sovereign of 1893.
As part of a major coinage reform in 1816, William Wellesley Pole, the then Master of the Royal Mint, wanted coins to be made to the very highest standards and he employed the Italian gem engraver, Benedetto Pistrucci, to bring his aspirations to fruition. By the following year Pistrucci had created his portrayal of St George and the dragon for the gold sovereign, a design of such classic beauty that it has endured to this day. Over the years his original has been modified many times until it has developed into the design with which we are all familiar.