LawrenceChard

A Fake 1897-L London Mint Half Sovereign Obverse Actually looks worse in the photo than to the naked eye. Reverse Niton XRF Analysis

Slight correction: It's then a guess as to the likely composition. 🙂

No, it is just one possible test, out of many, and will only indicate whther the S.G. / density is in approximately the correct range. Alloys of plaltinum, tungsten, or other heavy metals could easily be adjusted to be the correct density for pure gold, or gold alloys, then gold plated.

No, it is just one possible test, out of many, and will only indicate whther the S.G. / density is in approximately the correct range. Alloys of plaltinum, tungsten, or other heavy metals could easily be adjusted to be the correct density for pure gold, or gold alloys, then gold plated.

I suggest giving each photo a title, caption, or description. Sure, I can tell that the second photo's look like fakes, but not everyone will be able to tell. The first photos don't look entirely convincing for genuine coins, which helps to compound the problem.

By "Official Weight of Gold Sovereigns", I mean the published specifications. These are what @Hotdog referred to, and to which I responded here: I believe these specifications are iether included in The Coinage Act 1816, or part of a separate, but related document. Hotdog has already mentioned allowances for error, tolerance, or remedy, which I will deal with in more detail later. Minium legal weight is a lower threshold limit, below which they would, in their day, have been removed from circulation, and replaced or exchanged.

That's because innumerati, including The Royal Mint introduce rounding errors, then dealers, collectors, and other "experts" copy them, often introducing more errors, in a game of "Chinese Whispers". I have just posted a accurate calculation here:

Well done, that's a great answer indeed. Now I am going to have to search to see where I have stored my information. I usually cite the nominal weight as 7.98805 grams or 7.988052 although I see you have got it to 16 decimal places. This is, or should be, important when using it in calculations. Although truncating it to fewer decimal places makes it easier to read and remember, I always try to avoid any rounding when doing calculations. I have just re-worked my calculations, and subject to checking for errors: 20lbs. troy of standard or crown gold (= bar) 20 lbs troy 12 troy ounces per pound 240 troy ounces 480 grains per troy ounce 115200 grains 934.5 sovereigns per bar 123.274478330658 grains per sovereign One grain = 64.79891 milligrammes One grain = 0.06479891 grams Therefore sovereign weighs 7.98805182664527 grams Fineness (22/24) 0.916666666666667 fine Sovereign fine gold content 7.32238084109149 grams Grams per troy ounce 31.1034768 Sovereign fine gold content 0.23542001070091 troy ounces Many innumerati, including The Royal Mint, are gulity of disseminating misleading information, by publishing inaccurate "facts", as a result of rounding, often to 2 decimal places. Rounding introduces errors. When these inaccurate, rounded, numbers are then used in calculations, particularly when multiplied, the errors are made greater. More to follow...

Yes, size does matter sometimes: 10 Ten Ounce Silver Yale of Beaufort Perth Mint also issue impressive 10 ounce coins: This is the obverse of a Year of the Goat The reverse does not have the weight or value, so looks identical to a one ounce in a photo: Just as well you can tell the difference when you actually handle them.

From the Battle of the Beasts?

When we were thinking about buying the Perth Mint's One Tonne Gold Kangaroo Nugget, we thought, no, if we do, they will just issue a two tonne one to annoy us! So I decided not to bother. 🙂

Can't reveal what else also arrived though. 🙂 I don't do any of the heavy lifting any more.

Perhaps we should just ask the Privy Council if we can start making our own better quality ones. 🙂

Got our second delivery today... All pre-ordered, but more due in soon. Hopefully, the delivery lag will be shorter for the next batch.

I have been doing this on a slighly casual basis for a few years now, but when I/we find time to organise it, I intend to carry out a substantial research project including every available date and mintmark of modern (post 1816) gold sovereigns. It is also likely that we will extend it to half sovereigns, double sovereigns, and quintuple sovereigns. An initial target will be to test at least one of every date, type, and mintmark combination, although there are likely to be a few omissons. It is likely we will also include multiple examples of some coins, to increase the overall sample size. It will be a major project, and will take time and resources, so don't hold your breath...

Alright, the week after then! 🙂

Funny you should say that! They are nice, aren't they?

They don't usually permit cameras or phones, or they didn't use to, but perhaps they realised they would hardly be able to maintain the policy once they opened the visitor centre. You do realise it could be top secret classified? 🙂 They got the first word right! 🙂

1825 George IV Bare Head sovereign- Interesting XRF Alloy Analysis That might not be exciting to many collectors, but this is the first time I can ever recall testing a sovereign with a higher silver content than its copper content. It helps to counter the Royal Mint's misconception that sovereigns were historically made of red gold. The "mode" value is about 3 parts per thousand, which applies to most sovereigns from about 1838 to 1932. Recent QEII sovereigns usually have 0 PPTs of silver, which is why they look like cheap copper imitations. Here is the coin: ... and the reverse: Apparently, it was a (declared) metal detector find. There are some slight traces of probable spade damage, but they could equally have been from ordinary circulation.

Neither did I! (Maybe next week) 🙂

How about a game of "Cert Number Bingo?" ...eyes down... 🙂

My 2 oz gold set hasn't turned up yet! 🙂

Any prizes for spotting the "deliberate errors" (2 typos) "Trade incentice winner annouced"? 🙂

Limited Stock - Sold Out This took some time today: Not quite convinced though.