Hi All, I was hoping someone may be able to refer me to any info on collecting Aust. Sovereigns? Not really my thing but am keen on "giving it a go". I started today with the purchase of a 1924p "nice unc." coin and would value anyones thoughts on what I should of perhaps paid and also its "collectability value " etc. Any help would be great! Thanks
The Sovereign and the Half Sovereign are the best gold coins available on the market for an Aussie buyer. Best bang for buck. See below for Sovereigns on eBay and try and get them for the price that the cheapest go for on eBay - unless of course you are ok to pay $100 on top of spot value coz you can get some particular year or mint in your collection. But if you dont have many ( anything less than 5 ) than - just hunt the cheapest ones. Full Sovereign ( from all countries where they were minted ) http://coins.shop.ebay.com.au/Coins...2&_sticky=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_sop=1&_sc=1 Half Sovereign http://coins.shop.ebay.com.au/i.htm...16&_trksid=m194&ssPageName=STRK:MEFSRCHX:SRCH
Also from wikipedia Sovereigns were produced as follows: London: 18171917, 1925, 1957 onwards Melbourne: 18721931 Sydney: 18551926 Perth: 18991931 Bombay: 1918 only Ottawa: 19081919 Pretoria: 19231932 Melbourne During the 1850s, Victoria alone contributed more than one-third of the world's gold output. Although a Mint opened in Sydney in 1855, it had difficulty keeping pace with the output of the goldfields and in 1871 a new branch of the Royal Mint opened in Melbourne. Melbourne sovereigns carry a small 'M' to identify them. Sydney Millions of pounds of gold bullion were shipped from Australia to London each year to be minted into coin. However, it soon became apparent that it would be easier to refine the gold and turn it into coins at source, rather than transport it to Britain and have it turned into coins there. Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide each submitted to be the venue of a branch of the Royal Mint and after some deliberation the British government awarded it to Sydney, which began issuing coins in 1855. This mint issued coins with its own design from 1855 until 1870 then, in 1871 the Royal Mint insisted that all gold sovereigns regardless of Mint should carry the British design. The coins minted by Sydney carry a small 'S' mintmark to identify them for quality control purposes. Perth The gold mines at Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie in Western Australia, once discovered, quickly became recognised as two of Australia's richest. The problems of transporting the raw gold over 2,100 miles to the nearest Mint in Melbourne were obvious and so a new branch of the Royal Mint was authorised and opened in 1899. Sovereigns minted at Perth carry a small 'P' mintmark. Bombay (India) Another branch of the British Mint was established in Bombay in India in 1918, where the demand for sovereigns was particularly high. The Bombay mint only produced coins for one year and all are dated 1918. Nonetheless, the Indian mint struck more sovereigns (approximately 1.3 million) in its single year of operation than the Ottawa branch managed in more a decade. Sovereigns from the Bombay mint were distinguished by the letter 'I' for India. Ottawa (Canada) The Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-1898 saw more than 25,000 people seek their fortune in the frozen North of Canada. For some time all of Canada's coinage was struck in England but these new gold strikes made this impractical. In 1908 a Canadian branch of the British Royal Mint was opened in Ottawa. As well as producing silver and base metal coins for everyday use, the new Canadian mint also turned the recently discovered gold into sovereigns striking intermittently between 1908 and 1919. Sovereigns of this mint carry a small 'C' mintmark. Pretoria (South Africa) The next, and final, branch mint was established in Pretoria (South Africa) in 1923. Like the Australian and Canadian mints, this was set up to turn locally mined gold into coins. Significant quantities of gold were discovered in Johannesburg in 1886, setting off another mass migration as speculators, prospectors, fortune-seekers, and adventurers from all over the world descended upon the region. By the end of the 1890s the area was responsible for a significant percentage of global gold production. Sovereigns, identical to the British coins except for the inclusion of an 'SA' mintmark, were struck at Pretoria between 1923 and 1932.[11]
Thanks for that , are you saying just buy for the bullion value at the cheapest price? how about the "collectable" premiums many seem to attract?
Well, if you dont have any or many sovereigns, than imo it would make the most sense to start out with the CHEAPEST sovereigns - afterwards you could expand and get coins with slightly higher premium. But if you are a beginning collector, than go with the cheapest - buy Sovereigns with the mindset that the reason you are getting one is 90% for its gold and 10% for the year, mint, condition etc. Also the higher the premium on a coin, the thinner your market will be. If you get a sovereign below spot than something to 'brag' about At SPOT to 3% over is OK 3-8 % over spot than ideally it should be in a better condition generic year sov 8%-15% ok if rarer year or rarer mint ( Pretorian sovs should cost more than Sydney sovs - due to lower mintages ) anything over 15% and you are talking ( or better be ) of a numismatic coin ( a sov that is either in an exceptional grade, or rare year or rare mint - or a combination of them. 100% over spot and more is beyond the scope of this post There are a few members here who have a collection of sovereigns in their stacks, and have knowledge regards what to look for and such stuff.
Depending on how far you want to go, get Mcdonalds and Rennicks coin valuation books. You do not need current years as you can work out spot prices from the calculator here if you wish. What they will do is help with rarity and mintage's. The thing you need to decide is are you a Sovereign collector or a bullion collector two very different scenarios. One you look at bullion value. The other you look for quality and rarity. If you want to read more about the worlds largest collection look up the Quartermaster Collection this is a collection that I doubt will ever be duplicated again. So if you have high standards this is the benchmark Even if you are a bullion buyer still try to source the best quality you can, rarity is important but you will not usually get rare and cheap, if you do well done. I say get quality because these will always command a higher price. Take for example your UNC 1924P Perth Mint Sovereign it has a book value of approx $775 if you a Coin Store was selling it. So if you paid Bullion or near Bullion you bagged a good buy. The other thing is I don't think they are making anymore 1924P Sovereigns either LOL but be aware the Perth, Melbourne and Sydney mints over the years were the worlds largest producers of Gold coins during their hay day so this is were Rarity plays into it. Let as example take a 1926S Sovereign in the same condition would be worth close to $55K but if you didn't know that then you would only be prepared to pay bullion value etc... There are plenty of free websites with details and hints tips, but honestly there is no easy fix. Education is the key to this and any type of investment. Finally there is a saying "The only thing rarer than a rare Sovereign is a rare Sovereign buyer"
The only thing scaring me off from bidding on some of the cheaper ones on Ebay, is there's often no indication if they're full or half sovereigns. Is there any tried and true way to identify them from the images? (assuming the images are legit)
But if the starting price is less than half sov price, and heads towards full sov price, and there's no indication that the coin is half or full. I'd rather not take pot luck whether I'm getting a bargain or overpaying by half... While I can't be sure, I'm forced to remain sov free
There are two inexpensive reference books published by Michael Marsh - "The Gold Sovereign" and "The Gold Half Sovereign". If serious about collecting they could be very useful.
In addition - if your anything like me you might want to purchase one of these too... http://www.bexfield.co.uk/dxsov.htm I've always had an eye for nice antique sov cases, Definitely going to start collecting and filling them up, not exactly space-saving but I love them
