Hey All. Just received a 1918 Gold Sovereign off the 'bay. This is my first gold coin, and everything looked legit enough when I took it out of the packet. Great lustre, and suprisingly little wear, it looked in better condition than many of my 1966 50 cents. I was all excited - the fondle-factor this little beauty gives is worlds apart from the sterile perth mint carded gold I have. Then I noticed it.... A hallmark symbol that appears to be an "A" inside of a ring. At the top of the ring is a florish. Under the ring is "22". There is also an M mint mark, presumably Melbourne. WTF?! Legal tender doesn't have hallmarks does it...damn I didn't notice this hallmark in his pics. The dimensions check out at 22mm dia and 1.5mm thick. The weight checks out at 8g. I have no acid test kit or electrical kit. What the heck have I bought? Some kind of restrike? Or something much worse? Seller said it had been passed down in his family for a long time and he has about a dozen positive feedbacks. Only one of his other sales was coin related - an 1897 sovereign with similar description. Seller also offered full refund if I return it at my expense. So theres some hope there if this is a fake. These pics were taken using a flatbed scanner. Actual coin is much shinier and does not have any discoloration on the horses hind leg...that must be a scanner problem.
Is the hallmark insert into the coin like it's been punched in, or is it raised (like the date)? Never seen that before. What city are you in? W.Davis here in Melbourne will let you bring it in for an XRF appraisal free of charge to determine the purity. Looks like a third party hallmark to certify 22ct (which is correct). Buggers it from any potential numismatic value though - that's just a lump of gold unless it's some sort of historically significant hallmark, which I doubt. There's a couple of members on here who may be able to shed some light.
http://www.goldsovereigns.co.uk/1918sovereign.html http://www.cruzis-coins.com/sovs/1918i.html I cannot locate any reference to a hallmark mintage of the 1918 though. Might need to speak with an expert to find out what you have there. This site has a LOT of info you might find useful, but again, nothing on Hallmarks I could see... http://www.goldsovereigns.co.uk/information.html
how much did you pay ive got a cat that says there were only about 200 -300 made by the condition its in its worth about $600 cant find anything about the mark on it hope this helps a bit
Great question goldpelican. I had to find my pocket microscope to be sure...it turns out its actually raised like the date. How peculiar. I'm in north qld, but we have a local coin dealer who seems cool. He could probably check the coin for me. Thanks for the links auspm I will check them out. Well, I started this thread assuming I'd bought a dud so I would be happy with bullion value and consider any numismatic value here a fantastic free roll. I bid $370 which I didn't think was far out of line for some fractional gold.
If the hallmark is raised, it might be a "jeweller's copy" i.e. correct weight and purity, but not struck by an official mint. I don't know if that would make it more or less valuable, but I can't imagine there would be many of them out there if it was made by an individual (by hand) so its probably rare. Take it around to a couple of the older and more established dealers and ask them.
From what little I know of jeweller's copies (I have a client who is a semi-retired jeweller, but that's about it) they take a cast of a the real coin, make a small modification (like a hallmark) in the cast and then use the same purity metal to turn out a copy. Its actually a very involved process and the art is in making it as close as possible to the real thing, essentially to demonstrate the skill of the jeweller. Nowadays we have "COPY" written on our copies, but years ago the jeweller's hallmark was the indication that the coin was a copy. Like I said, its probably quite rare so I'd ask around before going back to the seller and demanding a refund. If you can confirm that it is a jeweller's copy quickly, inform the seller that it is a fake and ask how long they'll keep the offer of the refund open. Then spend some time researching it - double check the purity (if you can get access to an XFR machine) and see if you can identify who made it from the hallmark. I would be very surprised if there aren't people out there who collect the older copies that aren't churned out by the thousand in China.
You might like to consult with Andrew Crellin of Sterling Coins & Currency in Freemantle WA. He has written several authoritative books on sovs and would be I am sure able to point you in the right direction. I have always found him very helpful. Can send link if interested cheers K
Middle Eastern Restrike, Return it, it's only good for scrap, we melt over a dozen of these a week. And we are selling real ones Today for $351 each. As scrap we are paying $320 for these.
Still, since they dont come up on the 'bay that frequently that sovereign could be listed and targeted towards the arab part of the gold buyers. If its rare and you do the listing well, than you should be able to at least hold your current 'worth'. List it 2 weeks before the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 and you WILL GET PREMIUM paid over the spot. ok the Qatar bit is a joke, but if its rare ( on eBay ), if its genuine gold ( established already it is so - twice !!! ). Hold on to that coin. try and find out where exactly the hallmark is from, if you find that out, that gold piece is part of that regions gold heritage, THEY WILL PAY OVER SPOT FOR THAT.
That's exactly what I was thinking, hence the question. Peter from W.Davis seems to have confirmed. Essentially it's a correct weight counterfeit, but openly marked as such.
Apologies for the belated response, I'd certainly agree that it is a jeweller's copy, the divergent lines across the reverse are an indicator of the production method, which certainly wasn't by being struck. Because these items are produced so they can "circulate" within sovereigns and half sovereigns bought in bulk for jewellery purposes, they generally are very close to the correct weight and purity. In that any one example can be representative of the response by private enterprise to the cessation production of sovereigns, they can be collectible. Although they might well be scarce, they certainly shouldn't be regarded anywhere near the same calibre as rare sovereigns. I'm not sure if it'd be possible to track down who is behind the maker's mark on the reverse, it would have to be someone exceptional for it to attract a premium over spot. I purchased a similar coin through our office in Fremantle a few months ago, and took these images before casting it into the melting pot: http://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/files/HSGV12DUDOBV.jpg http://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/files/HSGV12DUDREV.jpg They're a curiosity, pretty much nothing more.
Thank you very much for the answers and expertise everyone. p.s. I informed the seller, and he graciously offered a partial refund so I got it for spot. I didn't want to return it. He told me it was likely one of his uncles brought it back amongst many coins from the middle east when they returned from world war 2. There may be some dodgy sellers on ebay but this guy was quite a gentleman.
I am always leery of anyone stating that they are selling their personal/family items. I bought a large clothes steamer from someone, who stated that it was his personal steamer. Next week he was again selling another of his personal steamers.
