The quarter sovereign shares the same design as the larger coins, depicting on the obverse the reigning monarch, Elizabeth II or, since 2022, Charles III.

On 7 March 1853, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, William Gladstone, explained to the House of Commons that the demand for gold was so heavy that there was no opportunity for the Royal Mint to coin silver.

[2] During the 18 April 1853 sitting of the House of Commons, either Edward Divett (per Hansard) or the former chancellor, Benjamin Disraeli (per a press account), asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, James Wilson, if consideration had been given to striking a quarter sovereign.

[7] The report that Herschel presented with the pattern coins demonstrated that it would be very expensive to strike them for commerce, as they would have to meet exacting standards, and would wear quickly in circulation.

[5] At the time, a parliamentary select committee was considering decimal coinage, and both Herschel and Thomson Hankey, former governor of the Bank of England, gave evidence before it.

[10] Striking of sovereigns for circulation had come to an end by 1932, with most issues after the start in 1914 of the First World War coined at the branches of the Royal Mint in Australia and South Africa, where economic conditions were different than in Britain.

[16][17] The quarter sovereign's specifications and design were stated in a proclamation by the monarch, Elizabeth II (r.  1952–2022), dated 10 December 2008 and effective the following day.

[19][20] In most years, the sovereign-range coins have featured, on the reverse, Benedetto Pistrucci's depiction of Saint George and the Dragon that first appeared on the sovereign in 1817.

[27] In 2023, a quarter sovereign commemorating the coronation of Charles III was struck, with the obverse a crowned portrait of the king by Jennings and the reverse the Pistrucci George and Dragon.

[33] Both varieties of the 2022 quarter sovereign were sold by the Royal Mint as bullion pieces,[33][34] as well as in proof condition;[26][27] the same is true of the 2023 coronation issue,[28][35] as well as that for 2024.

[36][37] The quarter sovereign has been sold as a collector's coin, usually in proof condition, each year since 2009, though only in 2009 (13,495 pieces struck) did the reported mintage reach 10,000.