RDHC

Not many new threads at the moment, so I thought I might air a question that has been in my mind for some time. I don't have any answers, except that I have a feeling - without any factual basis, I hasten to add - that even for the basic jubilee sovereign, despite all the publicity at the time, the mintage might well be less - considerably less? - than some of those for, say, the Gillick years (o.k. I know that the latter vary considerably). Of course, proof editions may have a finite, stated limit, but what about the bullion coins? Anyone care to make a stab at answering the question (assuming that I have posed it correctly in the first place, which I may well not have done)? Happy to be corrected on or at any point or assumption; I merely hope to stimulate some contributions from the better informed, probably because they will have handled, or at least seen the passage of, many of these coins. In this context, as in others, I lament the fact that we no longer benefit from the contributions of Lawrence Chard. It is regrettable that, apparently, he was offended by what some one or other wrote, and so he withdrew from the forum.

Not many new threads at the moment, so I thought I might air a question that has been in my mind for some time. I don't have any answers, except that I have a feeling - without any factual basis, I hasten to add - that even for the basic jubilee sovereign, despite all the publicity at the time, the mintage might well be less - considerably less? - than some of those for, say, the Gillick years (o.k. I know that the latter vary considerably). Of course, proof editions may have a finite, stated limit, but what about the bullion coins? Anyone care to make a stab at answering the question (assuming that I have posed it correctly in the first place, which I may well not have done)? Happy to be corrected on or at any point or assumption; I merely hope to stimulate some contributions from the better informed, probably because they will have handled, or at least seen the passage of, many of these coins. In this context, as in others, I lament the fact that we no longer benefit from the contributions of Lawrence Chard. It is regrettable that, apparently, he was offended by what some one or other wrote, and so he withdrew from the forum.

That's great - thank you. Please send me your details.

Last two of the 2022s, please, if I can save on the postage RMSD (should be about £10 for insurance up to £2500).

I seem to have missed this unhappy event. Can someone please tell me when it occurred and what was the gist of the matter? Did it involve the guy whom we are warned about by Chris in the headings of the forum? Did he completely get away with it?

Could I take the 2022 (or 2023) memorial sovereign, please? Anyway the one on the bottom left above the row of half sovereigns.

Gold is sliding so fast that I think I ought to withdraw this offer in fairness to all.

Three of these young head sovereigns for sale: 1957, 1958, and 1964. They are only bullion quality as they have been handled more than I would like, and the 1958 has a slight shine on it (not apparent in the photos, and the photos generally are not great - for which I am sorry). Spot is moving around at the moment, so I hope i have priced them fairly, with a slight premium for the 1957 and a slight discount for the 1958. All prices include RMSD. 1957 £394 1958 £386 1964 £390 The 1957 comes in a capsule (not Royal Mint , I'm afraid), and the other two come in Saflips. Thank you for looking.

Great photos.

How very true! The philosophical statement of the year.

A dirty business in other words.

Yes indeed. Cut out the profiteering middleman.

I have had an identical experience to others because of Tavex's deficient computer system. Part of my paid for order was rejected in the end and offers of alternatives to the 2022 Jubilee sovereign were not acceptable. However good Tavex's customer service may be in general, it does not make up for a computer system that does not give an accurate and clear indication of the stock available for any particular coin when some one is ordering. Such a facility is available at other dealers, for example Bullion by Post, and it really ought to be at Tavex as well, so as to prevent disappointed and frustrated customers. I cancelled my entire order to express my dissatisfaction.

I'm sure you are right to be sceptical, though we have to start somewhere in any quest for knowledge and then just keep an open mind and with our intelligence and logic apply the best tests that we can to what we are taught.

That's very interesting, and rather confirms my previous vague understanding that American High Schools teach a very broad range of history, perhaps skimming over things in the process, from the ancient world to the present day. Much better than our state schools. And yes, so far as I can see, the Americans are indeed inclined to be navel-gazing and isolationist. I believe that most of them still do not possess a passport, which is an astonishing fact.

Indeed, and you would get some additional history that way! For better or worse - and I agree that there is plenty of the latter - the British Empire encompassed quite a bit of world history after, say, 1500. History is history, unless the facts are excessively distorted to start with, and you can add your own moral judgments afterwards. Not that you would really need to add judgments when we know, for example, how many millions of deaths Stalin or Mao Tse Tung was responsible for in peacetime (to make a change from Hitler); the facts speak for themselves.

Entirely agree. Irrespective of the price of gold, knowing some, preferably a good deal, of history gives you a sense of perspective and, even more importantly, a sense of where you and others came from, and therefore a sense of who and what you and other people are. Without this knowledge, we are all rootless, and, to change the metaphor, drifting dangerously, without sails or oars or rudder, in a leaking boat. It is deplorable, indeed unforgivable, that so little history is taught in English schools, even worse than the lack of language teaching, and that is bad enough. Even at 'A' level, all that the syllabus seems to consist of is 'Hitler and the Third Reich' and/or 'Henry VIII'. They are hardly the sum total of human history, quite apart from being, in their own spheres. utterly odious individuals.

Lovely photos.

Of course much will depend on condition. However, if you check out the relevant Sydney mintages for these later years most look on the low side compared to many years for the Victorian shield sovereigns minted in London (sometimes 4,5,7, and, once, 10 million). And for some some years in this later period London did not mint any sovereigns at all. Moreover, the Sydney mintage figures can include some proportion of George and the Dragon coins as well as the shield reverse sovereigns. Just my non-expert impression, not a definitive study.

Well done to both parties. And good to see that someone else appreciates the relative scarcity of these late (1870s and 1880s) Sydney shield sovereigns. I think that they are nearly all undervalued - I could elaborate.

Well done! Absolute bargain.

That's a good price for these attractive coins. The larger size enables the one-off design to be seen much better than on the single sovereigns. Good luck - someone ought to buy them. And the capsules look like the more expensive screw type, which is a bonus.

Before we all lose the will to live through exhaustion brought on by this protracted debate - and I apologise to all concerned for having been the unwitting cause of it - could we perhaps all agree that the plaintiff is in the unfortunate position of having 'a grievance without a remedy', as one senior judge once termed it, and that sympathise as we may, nothing can be done about this and that the whole case should now lapse? (I write those words without being a trained lawyer, but as one who has been in a similar position and therefore obliged to acquire a degree of legal knowledge and parlance. My losses were much greater than the putative ones of the current plaintiff. For me it meant the premature end of my employment and all that that entailed.)

Extremely well put in all respects. And you are absolutely right about the email alert, which was what I picked up first (because I always go to my emails if I have been absent from home, as I was for one or two hours this afternoon, and then I went my other favoured web sites, including of course TSF, but I also check very frequently one or two newspaper sites to which I subscribe for important world or national news. I imagine that this is a fairly normal procedure or set of priorities for many members of TSF, who have an intelligent interest in many matters as well as this forum. Moreover, the member who sent me a PM was, in point of time, ahead of the aggrieved member who responded to my listing on TSF, irrespective of my happening to look in on the forum after checking my emails. I well recall that I lost out on a desirable shield sovereign in a Coins of the Realm auction about two years ago when my bid registered apparently successfully, only for it to transpire that someone else had pipped me by a nano second with exactly the same bid of £xxx, so I lost, and queried it, but I still lost. That's the electronic age for you.

Lovely coin (I have a later one of these 6400 reis coins with Maria on her own in a fabulous lace head dress). And very nice capsule, too. Good luck with the sale.