2007 Gold Sovereigns - New Recut Re-Engraved Dies

2007 Gold Sovereigns - Re-Engraved Dies The
Royal Mint released its new 2007 uncirculated (bullion) gold sovereigns
on Tuesday 2nd January 2007, along with the corresponding half
sovereigns.Altered DiesThe first thing we noticed about the 2007 sovereigns was that they were a real pig to photograph. We
try wherever possible to use our own photographs, although sometimes we
use images supplied by the various mints, at least on a pre-issue
basis, replacing them with our own images as soon as possible after we
receive our first deliveries.Despite our considerable experience in
photographing coins, the results can be quite variable. Some coins
photograph beautifully, others are really difficult, and require time,
patience, and experimentation before we can be happy with the results.The 2007 sovereigns proved to be in the latter category,It
took us most of one day to get reasonably acceptable images, and we had
to do quite a lot of post-production work on them. It was only once we
had the first new images on our websites that we felt we could spare
the time to start comparing them, which is when it started to dawn on
us that the difference are not all explicable by poor production
quality, but that the dies themselves, and also the masters from which
they are made, which have been changed.ChangesAs
far as the obverse is concerned, there appears to be no re-engraving,
although there is a considerable loss of definition compared with a
year 2000 dated sovereign which we used for comparison. The substantial
re-engraving appears to to confined to the reverse side.Almost all
parts of the reverse design are different, leading us to conclude that
the entire reverse design has been re-engraved. Because of this, it
will be almost impossible for us to create a complete catalogue of
differences, but we attempt to list the most obvious ones here:-Lower relief, noticeable or apparent in the centre.Longer, re-engraved tail.Longer trailing helmet plumes.More distinct, possibly cruder, helmet crest.Completely different folds in cloak.Smaller right hand, with more defined fingers, gap between sword hilt.Different mane to horse.Bigger gap between St George and the horse's neck.Thinner gap between horse's neck and reins.Different end to broken lance (to left of ground).Completely different ground.Smaller BP initials, rather blurred and indistinct. On our photo, they appear to merge to look like a single letter D.Dragon's wings differ.Dragon's nose, mouth, crest, and claws altered.George's garter is redefined.Horse's musclature has been substantially changed, as has George's.The
border has been changed, and now looks more like a railway line, as
opposed to convex toothed beads. (The obverse border does not match).The exergue appears to be taller, as do the date numerals.There is a smaller gap between the border and the main parts of the design.Our Simulated Image (Left)