1874 represents the last year for the shield Sovereign at the London Royal Mint and is one of the rarest, certainly the rarest in the die numbered series. The calendar year mintage for the Sovereign this year is a mere 520,713 but this number also includes the more numerous St George reverse pieces which were introduced for the 1871 date in London. The shield reverse must have totalled a mere fraction of this mintage. The shield Sovereigns of the period 1863-74 have individually numbered dies, a way of identifying which press on which journey of which day minted the coinage, a form of quality control at source. 

The 1874 London Shield back Sovereign are known to have been struck utilising only four distinct reverse dies which carry die numbers - in order of rarity these die numbers are as follows 35, 33, 28, 32 which appear below the reverse quartered shield of arms below the ribbon tie of the wreath. Michael Marsh when writing in the 1980s suggested dies 12, 15 and 34 may also exist but they have not yet been physically seen and therefore their existence remains theoretical. Whether there are only four surviving types of die number of theoretically seven, the number is very small especially when compared to the more than 100 dies used for 1871 and 1872 not long previously.