SlowFrog

If he at some point wears the crown, will there be teeth on every coin, or is it just for now? Would you stop buying sovereigns? 

I think the Canadian maple leaf coins with the queens portrait is pretty ugly! Reminds me of beavis and butthead. 

This coin has probably ruined the whole set of Mucha coins for me...

It looks like sculptors and coin designers loves Williams teeth. Maybe time for a grill

This one's quite bad 

You hand a modern sovereign to someone who's not in the know and most are underwhelmed, done this with a mate of mine he said "it looks like a copper penny"  gold should be the colour of the gods, this is why they colour base metal coins bright yellow gold to add a perceived value to something that's practically worthless.  We have a subconscious attraction to the bright yellow gold that's the same colour as the rising sun,  there's  interesting link between sun worshiping civilisations and the value they placed on gold.  
 
 
 

Yes, good answer.
2,500 years ago, when the first gold coins were made, who would have accepted them if they were not yellow?
Also, how many people would be sceptical if they were not a colour very similar to pure gold?

I find it hard to believe they introduce a laminate of any kind. This suggests a coating of some sort that would surely show up upon analysis/inspection. It would have an effect on total weight as well, albeit minutely.
Having said that, I would love to know how, and why ffs, they produce that shiny surface, it's awful. It must be deliberate and more to the point, as an "extra" process or procedure, must surely cost extra in terms of materials, time or labour. It doesn't sound like the RM to waste money.
Oh why don't they just strike their modern sovereigns just like the Gillicks?🙄

It is almost universally agreed that gold sovereigns, together with multiples and fractions would look better yellow by adding some silver to the alloy, rather than the modern coppery red colour created by using only copper in the alloy, and no silver.
I have frequently commented on it, and produced XRF alloy analysis as evidence that there was always silver in older sovereigns, and that the absence of silver, producing red gold coins is a recent (since about 1957) aberration.
There are many threads on TSF which mention this, and also infomation and blog pages on the Chards website.
On Thursday 23rd September, I wrote an e-mail to Anne Jessop and two other members of the Royal Mint management team, stating the case for adding silver, and doing so as early as in the anticipated 2022 Royal Coat of Arms sovereigns.
I was pleasantly surprised to get a response as early as the next day, but it was only from one of the recipients letting me know they had forwarded it to a more appropriate member of their team. Following that, I had been expecting a substantive response shortly afterwards, even if it was to say "no", or "thanks". It has been almost three weeks now, and a thought just occurred to me, that the delay and absence of response may just be because I have hit a proverbial nail on the head, and that they are about to issue yellow gold sovereigns with some silver content, in which case, they would not wish to pre-empt their embargo or announcement. Or perhaps they are mulling over my suggestion...
Any bets?

Always thought this year of the dog coin looks a mess 

So when did Richard Branson start appearing on coins....😆

Cheers, James! Yeah, it was paranoia due to lack of knowledge/experience on my part but it's great to smash that nagging doubt in the back of my head!

Extremely happy to hear that (although I had little doubt from your info and pics) 
You can never be too careful though and I'm glad your now settled 😁👍

Hey all, just wanted to provide a quick update to this thread. I managed to compare it with 2 other eagles today and now thankfully feel sure it's genuine. Examined them all closely they all have that 'grainy' finish when viewed through a loupe. Weight, size and ping sound/pitch all identical so I'm relieved and happy. Once again appreciate the comments and help!

Hey all, just wanted to provide a quick update to this thread. I managed to compare it with 2 other eagles today and now thankfully feel sure it's genuine. Examined them all closely they all have that 'grainy' finish when viewed through a loupe. Weight, size and ping sound/pitch all identical so I'm relieved and happy. Once again appreciate the comments and help!

Hey all, just wanted to provide a quick update to this thread. I managed to compare it with 2 other eagles today and now thankfully feel sure it's genuine. Examined them all closely they all have that 'grainy' finish when viewed through a loupe. Weight, size and ping sound/pitch all identical so I'm relieved and happy. Once again appreciate the comments and help!

As has been said, Gold Eagles are not the shiniest of coins. What you posted looks just like a Gold Eagle, matte finish and all.
Let us know how you feel after your assessment.
 

Hope it all works out for you.

Thanks so much to you and everyone else in this thread. Must admit that I've been reassured somewhat by the replies.
The update is that a small local coin dealer (that doesn't have a Sigma) does have a 2010 half eagle and has said I can take mine along to compare on Tuesday or Wednesday. If that arouses further suspicions then I'll definitely pop it in the post to you if that's okay - happy to buy you a beer! 👍
I should also have enough time to try the specific gravity tomorrow so that might be interesting too.
Thanks again everyone - much appreciated!

If you are willing to pay postage to and from and a £5 for beer money I can pop it on my sigma machine 😉

Unless it's a fake gold coin made with a cupro-platinum core of the same density. Okay, probably never going to happen unless platinum really takes a dive  
Tungsten has a density very close to that of gold, which is why it's seen used in fake gold coins - or more likely in gold bars where drilled holes are plugged with tungsten slugs and capped with real gold so the bar still looks like pure gold and still weighs the same. However, tungsten is slightly magnetic so that can't be the case with this coin. 

No, I don't think it is fake...
... although to be fair, I can't confirm it's genuine either!
The ping you hear from a coin is not just a single frequency, it's made up of multiple frequencies, and those can often be used to distinguish different sizes, shapes and metals of coin - and also to confirm whether one is likely to be genuine. The Pingcoin app doesn't have a 1/2oz gold eagle in its library yet, but what I would do, @SlowFrog, is load the ping sound from that YouTube video into a sound editor like Audacity, and then record the ping from your own coin to compare.
If you do a frequency spectrum analysis, you should see at least three significant spikes that line up in the same places for both pings if the coin is genuine. I imagine it would be ridiculously hard to produce a fake coin that passes this test.

There’s nothing in your post that would worry me.  If you bought from a dealer or forum member that would also reduce any concern that I might have had.  
 
Best
Dicker

Doesn't look fake and it's spot on specs-wise. It's a bullion 22ct coin so is unlikely to have smooth shiny fields, unlike our weird modern sovereigns. These gold eagles always look slightly matte to my eyes, I quite like it. 

If the weight/diameter and thickness are within the range then I think your fine.
A fake would need to be substantially thicker or bigger to match the weight of gold.
You say it passes the ping test (again a fluke would have a short dull sound)
And a eagle is 22ct if I'm not mistaken so will look slightly different in appearance. 
Do the specific gravity test like you mentioned but if still in doubt take to your local jewellers and have them test for a small fee or a cup of coffee.
I believe @BackyardBullion offers this service now too, maybe shoot them a message.