I bought 3 half sovereigns and 1 sovereign today at a reputable gold dealer in Dubai. However the full sovereign has a "21K" stamped on it. I am new to sovereigns, noticed it and still bought it against my judgement. Having read through some previous internet posts, it seems that some middle east countries put their own mark on the coin as per government rules. I dont know if this is the case or if this is a fake. It has passed the Fisch test, the weight seems spot on 8g. What gives? I have taken pics of all the sovereigns I bought so maybe someone can tell me if they all good or all fake. All the half sovereigns weigh exactly 4g.
Likely a jewellers copy, possibly cast from a genuine coin. Gold content is probably 21k, not 22k, so you might have been stiffed about 5% of the gold. Middle East is supposed to be awash with counterfeit sovereigns, but doesn't necessarily mean the gold content is wrong. Have heard of as low as 9k though.
Ok, makes sense, he is more of a gold jeweller than gold coin dealer. Are the half sovereigns also all jewellers copy, they dont have any 21K mark on - or are they authentic? I pretty much got them at a touch above spot so not so bad, I can always sell them back to the store when gold price rises a bit.
In Dubai airport I saw something similar for sale called a 'Gini' Took me a while to figure out they were trying to call it a guinea. It was there alongside their own issues (Maybe UAE) gold coins and other gold items. I guess they aren't trying to rip you off, just getting a bit of free brand recognition, kind of like buying generic drugs at the pharmacy.
I think I will just sell them all back to the store when gold price rises a bit. Then I dont have to worry about having fakes, replicas or whatever it is.
Thx all for your help. I def think the gold content is ok cause the weight seems right on all the coins and it is from a decent gold jeweller. Perhaps they all replicas made for jewellery...
You will still have trouble convincing other people they are not fakes, but at least with no numismatic value they have very low premiums. Best to return them or sell them back, or melt them down for jewelry.
Disappointing to hear they passed the Fisch detector test. Perhaps the Fisch is not as foolproof as it is supposed to be. Weight at exactly 8 grams is also close to specs. Did you weigh it with a digital scale that measures up to 2 decimal places?
Yip, passed the fisch test and used a digital scale with 1 decimal place. This is why i was pretty convinced they were authentic. This is a quote I found from another forum "it is also possible they were 22 K sovereigns locally assay stamped by officials with the official legal 21K stamp because the laws of the country might require that an imported piece, in order to be able to be named and sold as gold in an islamic country must hold 21K and state it or bear that mark. " Source: https://www.kitcomm.com/archive/index.php?t-42693.html Hence my original question. Can anyone ascertain for sure from the pictures that these are fakes (besides the 21K counter mark)? Aussiesilver seems quite convinced, I am just wondering what kind of other things you look for to define a fake?
Personally i find the strike very weak on the George V side of the full sovereign. There is a lack of fine detail even taking wear into account. In case you haven't already seen this. Great info on fakes and lots of articles. http://www.goldsovereigns.co.uk/fakes.html and http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/Collectin...-Avoiding-Fakes-Part-1?ugid=10000000001420872
Not sure you can differentiate between 21 and 22 gold. Wear and tear on coins plus minting tolerances means you could have a genuine sovereign weighing 5% less than a new coin. If you bought a percent or two over spot then sleep at night by selling them back to your jeweller.
