banyancb

The shop said both the 1911-C and 1918-I were genuine. The weight of all the other coins I bought is right, and there are no obvious red flags in terms of looks, even under magnification. I have compared them to other sovereigns I bought from coininvest and bullionbypost.

The increase in interest rates causes USD to strengthen, meaning gold will drop… in theory. In reality given the increase in M2 money supply and the current (and upcoming) inflation might mean that gold is currently undervalued and due a reprice sharply higher. I am talking about the USD and the Fed but the GBP / BoE are basically doing the same. I’m betting on a reprice, and expect £2000 to be reached within the next 5 years, £2500 in 10 years. And I believe I’m being conservative. All this inflation is and will be hitting food, housing (barring a few local housing bubbles), oil and other commodities, gold can’t be the outlier.

Quick update: the shop had no problem exchanging the coins for other ones. They were made of gold, but were they fake or not? Not sure I will ever know. The 1911-C was heavily scratched / aggressively cleaned so that might be why the weight was a bit off. Anyway I had only bought the coins online and never had been there in person until now. It’s a small shop that specialises in coins and stamps. I highly recommend a visit if you are in Lisbon, they have some really great stuff there.

The 1911-C and 1918-I don’t have much wear and tear… the shieldback has a bit, but not enough to justify 7.92?

The 1851 shieldback (from the same seller, pics earlier in this thread) is also underweight at 7.92 gr. Most of my other shieldbacks from shops like BullionByPost are also underweight, et around 7.95 (maybe due to their age?) but this one is the lightest. Perhaps something to do with the large dent it has in the rim above the crown?

Did a few tests with a relatively accurate scale. The 1911-C is very underweight at 7.91 grams and the 1918-I is at 7.94. Most sovereigns from the same seller are at 7.98, including the 1911-S shown in the pictures above.

I still buy one of the newer coins per year (only have 2021 and 2022 since I started collecting last year) but there’s something special about holding a 100+ years old gold coin in your hand… even if the condition is not great!

Definitely overpaid, live and learn. I’m more worried whether they are legitimate or not at this point, although not for this one specifically. I’ll keep looking at online pics for fakes and go to a jeweller to have them checked. Any more comments on the others? Great site, makes me wish I had started buying earlier…

Can’t spend it all on gold coins… these last few months I’ve stacked quite a few… hopefully real ones 😑 I really like older sovereigns, not a fan of the newer coins.

I’ll pass by your shop next time I’m in the UK! Regarding the photos… I need to get a proper camera, these were taken with the iPhone and magnifying glass…

Looks legit to me, but what do I know 🥲 Likewise with the 1911-S, I also think it’s legit Just wanted to share another coin from the same dealer

They are… and outside of Portugal forget it, same as fish and chips, it’s never good outside of the UK. Any thoughts about that shop? Or the new photos?

Is it a good idea or something really bad that should never be done to a sovereign? And what kind of acid test do you use (9ct seems to be common)?

And here’s the 1911-S, which also looks legit (?) Still not great photos but getting better right?!

Now here’s the 1911-C again in natural light. The more I look at it, the more confused I am if it’s legit or not…

Ok gents, here are some pics in daylight. Had the opposite problem today, it was too sunny (ruining the pics) and had to wait for cloud cover to take proper pics! First, here’s an 1851 London shield back from the same dealer. It looks pretty good and just the same as my other shield backs:

Thanks, I will stop using artificial light, I think the same, makes them all look fake… I do not think they sold fakes on purpose, if one or more are indeed fakes it was most likely by accident. EDIT: removed my acid test question and made a new thread, more useful if someone searches for it in the future

The prices for each of these were 460 euros. I also bought some shieldbacks for 490 before they upped the price to 520. Most of the listings were already taken down but here’s the 1911-S I posted above: https://filateliadochiado.pt/produto/1911-s-inglaterra-libra-em-ouro-de-jorge-v/

Here’s another coin, a 1911 S, from the same dealer, which looks a bit better? And to compare is what I hope is a genuine 1931 SA bought from CoinInvest:

Sorry about the pics, I’m pretty jetlagged today, brain is not working properly. I get that some of you can be very suspicious about new users, but I’m not here trying to fool anyone. I live between three countries and travel a lot for work. I had a look at fakes and watched lots of videos before asking here. But I’m a total noob, and it’s not easy for me spot the fakes (as you can see from my posts above) hence the questions. English is not my native language, so I might not make much sense at times. Honestly any piece of advice is good, I just want to learn. I am pretty convinced now that the 1911-C is a fake, and will now carefully through all the coins I bought from this dealer (6) to check for fakes. The 1918-I is the another one that looks suspicious to me.

Ok thanks everyone, that’s unfortunate. Looks like I need to get my money back. @LawrenceChard the listings are not online any more. There’s a magnifying glass icon you can use to search on the site. I bought several coins from this dealer, the latest ones this 1911-C and 1918-I. Here are some artificial light pics of the 1918-I:

I am travelling all the time, especially between the UK and Portugal. That dealer in Lisboa is where I have been buying coins lately. some more pics with artificial light!

Those look very good. The more I look at these pics and compare them to mine, the more I think mine is legit but very badly cleaned and worn out. My photo setup sucks, but it has scratches in multiple directions and it looks “normally” worn out. But if someone can put an end to this misery and say it’s definitely a fake or a legit coin please go ahead!!

http://filateliadochiado.pt search for “libra” to see the sovereigns on offer