1/2 Sovereign United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801-1 ...

Great Britain, Edward VII. Nic Gold ½ Sovereign Coin.

Mint Year: 1906 References: KM-804. Denomination: ½ Sovereign Material: Gold (.917) Diameter: 19mm Weight: 3.94gm

Obverse: Head of Edward VII right. Engraver´s initials DLS. below. Legend: EDWARD VII D:G BRITT : OMN : REX F : D : IND : IMP :   

Reverse: St. George, wearing Attic helmet, right on   horse, holding sword in preparation to dispatch prostrate and wounded   Dragon below. Date (1906) in exergue. Comment: Broken shaft of lance to left on ground, engraver´s initials (B.P.) below ground to right.

Benedetto Pistrucci (May 29, 1783 – September 16, 1855) was a talented engraver of     gemstones, cameos, coins and medals. Born in Italy, he moved to London     in 1815 and was employed at the Royal Mint as an engraver, where his     most famous work is his portrayal of St. George & the Dragon used on     British gold sovereigns and crowns first created during the Great     Recoinage of 1816. He also engraved the dies for many other coins,     medals, and medallions, including the Waterloo Medal, which took him     over thirty years to complete. He refused to copy the work of any other     artist or engraver, and   insisted that all his work was his own     original work. Because of his   Italian origin, he was not officially     recognised as the chief engraver   at the Royal Mint, and there were     rivalries with other engravers   including the Wyon family.

Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United   Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January   1901 until his death on 6 May 1910. He was the first British monarch of   the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, which was renamed the House of Windsor   by his son, George V.

Before his accession to the throne, Edward held the   title of Prince of Wales and was heir apparent to the throne for longer   than anyone else in history. During the long widowhood of his mother,   Queen Victoria, he was largely excluded from political power and came to   personify the fashionable, leisured elite.

The Edwardian period, which covered Edward’s reign   and was named after him, coincided with the start of a new century and   heralded significant changes in technology and society, including   powered flight and the rise of socialism and the Labour movement. Edward   played a role in the modernisation of the British Home Fleet, the   reform of the Army Medical Services, and the reorganisation of the   British army after the Second Boer War. His work in fostering good   relations between Great Britain and other European countries, especially   France, for which he was popularly called “Peacemaker”, was unable to   prevent the outbreak of World War I in 1914.