QUEEN VICTORIA 18ct gold SET IN RING

At the time when Sir Thomas Brock’s Veiled Head

design was introduced, the nation was in the firm

grip of economic depression. Much of the foreign

capital that had been invested in the great

Australian land boom was being repatriated, and

this outward flow of capital was driving many

respected banks to collapse. Although by 1893 the

volume of banking failures was easing from a rush

to a trickle, the economic hardship that the

depression caused the average Australian during

the last years of the Victorian era was compounded

by the beginning of a drought that affected the

entire nation. Needless to say, a sovereign during

this period had a high value indeed, accounting for

at least half a week’s wages for the average man.

This design was to continue with Queen Victoria

until her death in 1901.

Again a small number of two and five pound issues,

dated 1893, were struck at the Sydney mint for the

selected few. They are also considered extremely

rare

Two years before Victoria's death during her record

reign of 63 years, another London branch mint was

established in Perth. The mintmark, "P" on all

subsequent Perth sovereigns and half sovereigns

can be found in the same place designated for the

Sydney and Melbourne coins of the same period.

Value of this ring is more than R10000.00