This coin was minted in the same year that the House of Windsor was formed by King George V to distance the British Royal Family from their Germanic familial history. The historic name of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was replaced with Windsor, chosen in respect of George V’s ancestral home, Windsor Castle.

This Sovereign was struck at the Ottowa branch of the Royal Mint in Canada and has a distinctive C mint mark to denote this.

This ‘Very Fine’ Sovereign features a portrait of King George V on the coin’s obverse, created by Bertram Mackennal – a highly regarded Australian artist and a favourite of the king – and Benedetto Pistrucci’s iconic St George and the dragon design on the reverse.

In 1917, Sovereigns were struck in London, Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Ottawa. The Canadian issue has by far the lowest mintage figures from that year, with only 48,875 Sovereigns struck.