Historic Tower Hill 1915 Half Sovereign

When The Royal Mint relocated to Tower Hill at the height of the Industrial Revolution in 1811, minting entered a new era. The new site was equipped with the latest in modern steam-driven machinery and workers benefitted from a more efficient layout. Gold and silver coins were struck at Tower Hill for more than a century, as The Royal Mint substantially increased production to meet ever-increasing demands for coinage.

However, by 1915 Britain was gripped by war and regular production of gold coins at Tower Hill began declining as gold reserves were channelled to the front line. Many of the last gold Sovereign coins that survived the war were melted down to pay off war debts to the United States.

This coin provides a piece of British minting history - one of the surviving 1915 Half Sovereigns struck in the final year of production at Tower Hill.