westminstrel

Probably it’s worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it. I’ve seen MS 60+ 1817 Sovs priced insanely but they’ve been on sale for years and no one seems to be biting. The ungraded, worn ones, in my limited experience don’t seem to have a pattern. That said, £550 sounds like a good deal as long as the coin is not so worn that you can’t see most of the strike. Personally I feel slightly repulsed when I see an obverse that’s “blunt” and featureless. Sometimes it scares me. 😳

Damn I wish I had had the money to buy 3 of these. I’d be sitting on a gold mine right now. 😝 I guess as Tolkien says of the Dwarven Ring of Power... “It takes gold to breed gold”. 😇

I have been wondering this too. Just like the Victoria and Albert SoTDs, they may find it hard to resist doing a “doublet” this year too. Either way I’m glad I didn’t fall for the VE75.

IMO the ENTIRE point of this series is to resurrect designs which aren’t easily available anymore by making them available to a new generation of collectors. The Jody Clark designs are new and freely available - what’s the motivation for re-releasing them literally less than a decade from their original release? The same goes for all the new Britannia designs. I still think the RM will be going with older designs which will be worthy of the limited range and the high price point. Also, as good as his work is, I don’t think you can place Jody Clark in the same league as William Wyon and Benedetto Pistrucci. Not yet at any rate. I mean c’mon... those dudes spent a lifetime perfecting their art before reaching the pinnacles of their careers. 🙂

My knowledge is limited so I don’t have anything else to add as far as suggesting other engravers. 🙂

By the way, there’s been a couple speculation discussions. The latest of these is: https://www.thesilverforum.com/topic/32084-speculation-on-2020-and-2021-great-engravers-designs/

The thing with many of these suggestions is that the original coins can be relatively really purchased at not-too-exorbitant prices. Why would you want a “restrike”, as it were, if you can get the original? The appeal of the new Una and the Lion coin was that it was a chance for collectors to get an officially struck version of a design whose original is now unattainable by most. So I don’t believe the RM will pick any of these “lesser” designs for the next coin in the series. I think they will go BIG just as they did with Una. Either way, the speculation is fun. 🙂

I’m in love! 😻

Indeed. All I meant is that I hardly consider “VE75” worthy of even being called a “Mint Mark”, and certainly there is nothing special about it, except maybe for people to whom the original VE day meant something personally. Otherwise, looking at it very objectively, it is just a bit of text about a one-time event, and the RM can commemorate any such events in the future with some suitable acronym, as there is no shortage of events to celebrate. But of course, one man’s food is another man’s poison, so good for those who like this sort of stuff. 🙂

It does have a mintmark as mentioned above, but nonetheless, I think you shouldn’t be sorry at all for missing out. Why pay a premium for a scrawl of alphabets and numbers? Remember never to easily fall for good marketing.

To each their own, but I just don’t see the appeal of the tiny VE75 written down there. I wouldn’t buy it if it were the cost of a proof around £500 either. It just feels gimmicky, and there seems to be nothing unique about the SotD anymore; nor the matte finish, nor the plain edge. The RM can now commemorate any day they want, twice or thrice a year, and slap on tiny text on a Sovereign and call it an SotD. All very uninspired and blah. I’m much more picky lately - I like to think of myself as a “discerning collector”. 😎

https://www.royalmint.com/our-coins/events/ve-day/75th-Anniversary-of-VE-Day-2020-Strike-on-the-Day-Sovereign/ Matte, plain edge, a VE75 mintmark. And looks like the RM is testing the waters with an “intermediate” price of £650. What a total farce this whole SotD range has become unfortunately. 😒

You’re welcome. Just to add to what I said above, my personal opinion is that the offical RM Sovereigns are a continuing part of history and will always have that appeal, besides the striking standard of RM proof gold coins is usually very good, so rather than spend money on some 1/4 oz coins that are termed “sovereigns”, it’s just better to go for the real deal. 🙂

I would recommend buying official Royal Mint Sovereigns if you intend splurging on Proof Sovereigns. 🙂

Thanks for that. It’s so beautiful and has a lovely story behind it. They could do an entire series just based on Wyon’s work.