Sovereign rarities from George V, ranked from top to bottom

There are a lot of sovereign rarities across the George V sovereign series. There are about a dozen major rarities from the 1920s to 1930s, as well as handful minor ones. Key dates like the 1923SA currency-issue sovereign are rare because of special circumstances, while other key rarities, such as the 1920S sovereign and 1921M sovereign, are rare despite high mintages because of mass government meltings during the 1920s. The remaining fifty or sixty dates which would not be considered rare are often lumped together as a group described as “common” or of “normal” scarcity, especially as the Marsh sovereign guide describes them explicitly this way. However, there are many scarce and very scarce dates outside the “melt rarities” that deserve a premium as well. Dates such as the 1920M sovereign, 1928M and 1929M sovereigns, and 1921S and 1924S sovereigns are all much harder than your garden-variety common-date sovereign. Some dates, like the 1916M sovereign and 1918M sovereign could even be considered sleepers, yet to be appreciated by collectors.

The rare specimen 1920 Sydney sovereign.

To that end, I’ve compiled a list of George V sovereigns minted across all the mints and years, and sorted them in order of what I view to be their rarity, from most rare to most common. Toward the bottom of the list, the individual rarity of the more common dates is neither here nor there, and the order I’ve put those dates matters less than, say, the top twenty coins, where individual rarities are more clear and more important.

Rank	Date MM
1	1920-S Sovereign S-4003
2	1923-SA Sovereign S-4004
3	1917 Sovereign S-3996
4	1921-M Sovereign S-3999
5	1922-S Sovereign S-4003
6	1926-S Sovereign S-4003
7	1916-C Sovereign S-3997
8	1923-S Sovereign S-4003
9	1922-M Sovereign S-3999
10	1924-SA Sovereign S-4004
11	1920-M Sovereign S-3999
12	1928-M Sovereign S-3999
13	1929-M Sovereign S-4000
14	1924-S Sovereign S-4003
15	1913-C Sovereign S-3997
16	1921-S Sovereign S-4003
17	1914-C Sovereign S-3997
18	1931-M Sovereign S-4000
19	1924-P Sovereign S-4001
20	1919-S Sovereign S-4003
21	1925-P Sovereign S-4001
22	1919-M Sovereign S-3999
23	1930-M Sovereign S-4000
24	1927-P Sovereign S-4001
25	1916 Sovereign S-3996
26	1911-P Sovereign S-4001
27	1911-M Sovereign S-3999
28	1926-M Sovereign S-3999
29	1915-P Sovereign S-4001
30	1912-P Sovereign S-4001
31	1926-P Sovereign S-4001
32	1918-C Sovereign S-3997
33	1917-C Sovereign S-3997
34	1919-C Sovereign S-3997
35	1928-P Sovereign S-4001
36	1916-M Sovereign S-3999
37	1918-M Sovereign S-3999
38	1915-M Sovereign S-3999
39	1917-M Sovereign S-3999
40	1921-P Sovereign S-4001
41	1923-P Sovereign S-4001
42	1923-M Sovereign S-3999
43	1924-M Sovereign S-3999
44	1930-P Sovereign S-4002
45	1929-P Sovereign S-4002
46	1932-SA Sovereign S-4005
47	1929-SA Sovereign S-4005
48	1925-M Sovereign S-3999
49	1914-P Sovereign S-4001
50	1914-M Sovereign S-3999
51	1916-S Sovereign S-4003
52	1925-S Sovereign S-4003
53	1913-P Sovereign S-4001
54	1912-M Sovereign S-3999
55	1922-P Sovereign S-4001
56	1918-I Sovereign S-3998
57	1919-P Sovereign S-4001
58	1912-S Sovereign S-4003
59	1916-P Sovereign S-4001
60	1913-M Sovereign S-3999
61	1913-S Sovereign S-4003
62	1917-S Sovereign S-4003
63	1917-P Sovereign S-4001
64	1920-P Sovereign S-4001
65	1925-SA Sovereign S-4004
66	1926-SA Sovereign S-4004
67	1911-C Sovereign S-3997
68	1911-S Sovereign S-4003
69	1911 Sovereign S-3996
70	1914-S Sovereign S-4003
71	1915-S Sovereign S-4003
72	1918-S Sovereign S-4003
73	1918-P Sovereign S-4001
74	1931-P Sovereign S-4002
75	1913 Sovereign S-3996
76	1915 Sovereign S-3996
77	1912 Sovereign S-3996
78	1914 Sovereign S-3996
79	1930-SA Sovereign S-4005
80	1928-SA Sovereign S-4004
81	1931-SA Sovereign S-4005
82	1927-SA Sovereign S-4004
83	1925 Sovereign S-3996