The Quintuple or £5 Sovereign, is an interesting and sought after denomination that is usually much rarer than its Sovereign counterpart and of course contains much more gold, being larger at 36 millimetres in diameter and weighing approximately 39.9 grams of 22k gold.

The very first £5 Sovereign was struck in 1820 under the reign of George III, then there was the proof £5 of 1826 and of course the legendary Una and the Lion £5 of 1839, but none of these coins were struck for general circulation purposes, so it is the 1887 £5 Sovereign from the reign of Queen Victoria, that takes the honour of being the very first generally circulated £5 Sovereign in history.

Then in 1893, to showcase the new Veiled Head portrait of Queen Victoria, the second circulated £5 was struck, but in much lower quantities than the 1887.

The final generally circulated £5 Sovereign in history was struck in 1902, in the Coronation year of Edward VII, but interestingly there were two varieties – a standard strike and also a Matte Proof for collectors.

The £5 was still struck in the Coronation years of George V, George VI and an extremely small number in the Coronation year of Queen Elizabeth II, but there would be a 27 year wait for the next £5 Sovereign, which was issued as part of a proof Sovereign set in 1980.

In 1994, the first £5 commemorative gold crown was introduced, struck for the 40^th anniversary of Her Majesty’s Coronation and the £5 gold crown has been struck on many occasions since, to celebrate special events and key anniversaries. Theses coins contain the same amount of gold as the circulated £5 Sovereigns, but are very slightly smaller in diameter at 35 millimetres.

Today, The Royal Mint issues the £5 Sovereign every year in both proof and brilliant uncirculated quality.