This gold sovereign was found in an old rubbish dump in Eynsham! It dates from the early part of the reign of Queen Victoria (1846) and is one of the so-called Victoria Young Head Sovereigns. The engraver William Wyon created the portrait of the young queen that you can see on the front of the sovereign.
The Victorian era (1837–1901) was a time of huge progress across the fields of science, industry and the arts, enabling Britain to become the world’s first industrial power. The gold sovereign, too, became internationally important during Victoria’s reign. By the 1880s, it was legal tender in 36 British colonies and dependencies, and it was accepted in several other countries, too.
Two further gold sovereigns were commissioned during Victoria’s long reign. The Victoria Jubilee Head Sovereign was created to commemorate the queen’s golden jubilee in 1887. The Victoria Old Head Sovereign was engraved with a portrait of the queen as an elderly monarch, and was in use from 1893 to the end of her reign.