The 1989 500th Anniversary proof sovereign has a verified struck mintage of 23,471 (Royal Mint). Under fv_002 proof PE thresholds, mintages exceeding 15,000 fall in the Abundant band, mapping to a Scarcity Rating of Common. No SE override applies (modern proof, all assumed surviving). Despite being Common by scarcity, the coin achieves Key Date recognition because it is universally identified as a landmark issue — the 500th anniversary of the gold sovereign — and is explicitly designated as a key date in both Marsh and Spink.
Full Sovereign 1989 London
Classification
Scarcity Rating
Common
More than 100,000 are believed to exist. Readily available.
Recognition Status
Key Date
Explicitly identified as a key date in multiple independent standard references.
Evidence
- Struck Mintage
- 23,471
- Issue Format
- Standard Proof
- Data Confidence
- High
- Classification Confidence
- High
- Verification
- Verified
Design Information
- Reverse Design
- Enthroned Sovereign with Tudor Rose (Bernard Sindall)
- Designer
- Bernard Sindall (reverse), Raphael Maklouf (obverse)
- One-Year-Only
- Yes
- Commemorative Context
- 500th Anniversary of the Gold Sovereign (1489–1989)
Design information is recorded as factual metadata. It does not affect the Scarcity Rating.
Classification Reasoning
Sources
- Annual Report of the Deputy Master and Comptroller of the Royal Mint , 1989 (cited mintage: 23,471) Tier 1
- Annual Reports of the Perth Branch of the Royal Mint , 7th Ed. , p. Marsh 310 (cited mintage: 23,471) Tier 1
- English Gold Coinage by Michael Marsh , 2024 , p. S.4272 (cited mintage: 23,471) Tier 2
Contextual Notes
The following information is provided for context only and does not affect the Scarcity Rating or Recognition Status.
500th Anniversary of the Gold Sovereign. Features unique Tudor rose reverse by Bernard Sindall.