1 Sovereign - Victoria Pattern

Pattern sovereigns in silver are produced as presentation or approval pieces, allowing designers and Treasury officials to assess a proposed design before committing to gold production. This 1880 piece falls during the period when the Royal Mint was actively reconsidering the sovereign's design under Benedetto Pistrucci's long shadow — the aging St. George reverse had been in use since 1817, and pressure for a new treatment was ongoing throughout Victoria's reign.

KM#PnB118 is sparsely documented in standard references, which is itself telling: most silver sovereign patterns from this period survive in single-digit quantities, distributed among institutional collections and a handful of private hands.