I have actually come across 2 of these in 24 hours. The first one was cheap and looked good excepting a small ding and I got so hepped up I almost bought it, I even emailed a dealer who has been very good to me who gave me some advice. Then completely out of the blue a second one at a similar price without a ding...I haven't seen one of these under a couple thousand dollars in months and now 2 of them. Anyhow when I saw the price I jumped even though the picture wasn't ideal it was clear that it was a perfectly ok coin, just remains to be seen whether it's a good coin (quite possible) or even a great coin (less likely looking at the photos). I looked at some of the other auctions this guy had and some other gold coins suffered from this over blown colour problem, don't think it was deliberately trying to hide anything. Anyhow I thought I would solicit some information from you guys. The 68 is supposed to be the key to the series but isn't the 60 roughly the same price or even more for the equivalent grade? A little confusing. Also wondering what you guys thought about the coin ad pictured? I've asked for more even though I've bought it and I'll hopefully have it in a couple weeks but I'd be curious to know what you think. I would settle for a vf that pcgs would over grade (as per usual) an xf45 but I'm holding out the smallest ray of hope that it might be a little better. To get a little more detail I made a negative of the reverse, gives you a little more. It does look like a tiny bit of original lustre in between the lettering, nice if it's true.
Geeze stuff on this forum gets picked up quick. If you Google : 1858 sydney mint sovereign ", the link to this page is the first result on the second page. This is a pretty broad search term and although I'm a little surprised at how little there is on the coin, but much much more surprised that a search like that would turn up this post after about an hour of existing...
That is one nice coin! Hard to even hazard a guess at a grade from the photos but what the hell - that is a great coin for the collection.
I figured that as long as you can see the braids and wreath it can't be too bad,. The problem is that now I'm in danger of actually getting a bit of a set so I'm going to have to find the 59/60/62 which might be tricky. It runs counter to every stacker instinct in my body, but every time I see an Adelaide pound at a reasonable price at a dealer I think about emailing and offering all my type 2's for one. With the 58 I might be able to actually get quite a nice one if I threw them all in.
I don't know why but my camera always picks up and exaggerates the surface scratches on the coins I photograph. It really doesn't look that bad inb person. Anyway I finally got it in the mail. It's certainly a little more worn than I was hoping but there's some lovely luster in the legend and I'm quite sure I could never have gotten this coin at the price I did if I was paying retail or through an Australian auction (probably not even double the price). Sending it off for grading, given how PCGS have been grading sovs lately I think it will come back xf45 (possibly even a 53), though I'm quite aware this isn't how you would describe it in australia. Again, looks a little nicer I'm person. I always wonder if they are thrown off by the fact that the onverse tends to stay pretty wear free and that it's just the Queens wreath that suffers in many cases.
but i just put down for a au 55 1859 for $1210 which is reasonable since some places are selling them for 2500-3500
PCGS or NGC? Do you have a picture? I'd be curious to see it, honestly, they're all over the shop, I still get my type 2's graded but they do over grade. I wouldn't mind if they were consistent, but having similar coins graded quite different is frustrating given the cost. I've probably spent close to $700 on grading now. If I hadn't already gotten half a graded set I probably wouldn't have bothered knowing what I know now. By the time I'm done I could have had an 1860 from auction for the price of grading. Having said that though, if my 1858 comes back au53/55 then it will add nearly that much to the value so maybe it's not that bad.
here you go ill send you the link it says on hold as iam paying it off http://www.drakesterling.com/coins-for-sale/products/1859-sydney-mint-sovereign Its PCGS also here is another link for the same coin https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/items/1859-sydney-mint-sovereign-good-ef-pcgs-au55
I'm glad to see Eric getting your business, he's been very helpful and friendly to me even when I was being a bit impudent (asking for advice on coins from other people that he had in stock for one). I'm souring on slabbed coins but I can't resinous recommend DS and Eric highly enough. Very nice coin by the way, the 59 din definitely a tricky one and that's a great coin.
Really I think 1860 is the key i saw a adelaide pound on ebay not long ago for 1000 but you coundnt see nothing it was beyound worn
I asked Eric at DS about the key date thing since the 1858 on his website lists it as the key date. It seems to depend on the grade. Apparently they've caught up and are roughly equal abc that in properly mint state the 58 is the rarest type 2.
In my experience (from rare to common): 1858 1860 1862 1859 1857 1863 1865 1861 1864 1868 1867 1870 1866
