xthomasx

Thanks everyone for the input.

I had seen, but not owned, the smaller Lesotho pieces, but was not aware of the existence of a 10 sov piece. The full sets of Biafra and/or Lesotho would exceed my means but I will keep my eyes on the smaller denominations. They show up at auctions 1-2x per year, and often in auctions outside the Euro realm which I am uncomfortable with.

Hallo all,

in 1969, Biafra issued a set of five gold coins, modeled after the sovereign specifications: half, full, double, quintuple and ten (!) sovereigns. Maximum mintage was 3000 sets.

I just lost out on an auction of a single half-sov sized piece but hope to find some of them in the future.

Is someone here familiar with this coinage?

Is it known how many of those 3000 sets were actually sold? Are there serious estimates about how many coins survived until today? PGCS and NGC have graded a total of about 50 out of those 15000 (5x3000) coins. Is someone here aware of articles or book chapters dealing with Biafra coinage?

And: Are you aware of any other multiples of sovereigns larger than the quintuple?

Thanks a lot!

1000+ sovereigns smuggle busted in Israel. Three fellows tried to avoid VAT on their investment. Yes, Israel requires 17% VAT on gold imports and local sales. Was wondering how many of the sovereigns are genuine, and how many are Levantine look-alikes. Would be interesting, too, to check for rare years and more...

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/326510

I bought a 1989 three-coin set for some 1600€ at an auction around 2015. Very happy about it when seeing today's price level... 

I had another case in January. WAG (an auction house where I am bidding quite a lot) had this lot of sovereigns, including 1918 and 1919 without mintmarks:

https://www.sixbid.com/de/wag-online-auktionen-ohg/9169/lots-goldmunzen/7777652/grobritannien-sovereign-1911-c-fbidis-ltrpar?term=893

I notified the auction house, and the lot was withdrawn very fast.

Now, three months and three auctions later, the 1919 piece (or a very similar one; with the same *really* big second 9) was auctioned off as part of another lot, and sold:

https://www.sixbid.com/de/wag-online-auktionen-ohg/9435/lots-goldmunzen/8045192/grobritannien-sovereign-1910-1912-1913

22 hours ago, LawrenceChard said:

Google translate says "Copy of jewelry and minted in gold of..." I checked it because I wondered what acuñada meant, I should have worked it out, but at least I know now.

Thanks for the links and correction.

Screenshot of lot 1039

Price realised €320

I don't know whether that includes any buyer's premium, and have not checked it against the spot gold price of the day.

Interesting. I had seen that Frühwald did not withdraw the lot but entirely missed the Spanish auction's lots. For 320 hammer I would have bought one, I guess.

According to the published plans, the golden Archangel (1oz only, no quarters) are scheduled for this year/minting date as well. There are also a number of silver collector pieces etc.

No idea where to get them outside the Ukraine, and obviously no idea if those plans can be brought to fruition in the first place.

https://bank.gov.ua/admin_uploads/article/Plan_іssue_com_coins_souv_prod_2022_en.pdf

Anyone tempted to bid?

I will watch the sovereign pieces, and maybe the half sovs. Given the hammer prices of the September (?) auction, I am not likely to actually place a bid.

I got mine 🤩

I was on two queues (phone and computer). Computer said queue number 270, phone number 2017. Computer counted down really fast, and I got in

53 minutes ago, GoldDiggerDave said:

East India Company version of the 2022 sovereign launched today 

https://www.theeastindiacompany.com/bullion/2022-sovereign/

 

I guess they aren't the only vultures showing up for the occasion. 

RM site is down in preparation for the launch. Good luck to everyone who wants the set... 

15 minutes ago, FlorinCollector said:

Sorry I have missed it in this thread somewhere but when exactly is the launch for this? Is it Sunday or are they just striking them on Sunday? Or are they already sold? 

The RM site says 'Available February 6'. To me it sounds like Sunday. In the past we saw that the launch was not on the SotD day but maybe this time...? There should be some notification from the RM the day before, so watch all channels on Saturday. 

20 hours ago, FlorinCollector said:

@paulmerton They won't be any better the dies will be cleaned and replaced throughout the year each set of tooling will only be used for a certain number then changed. 

How do they guarantee that all dies all year round are identical and therefore give identical sovs?

What about refurbished and re-sharpened dies? I know this is done for circulation coins; maybe also for BU sovs 🤷‍♂️

I wouldn't see anything suspicious here, but from pictures it's hard to tell for sure.

Maybe your relative should see a jeweller or coin dealer for a physical analysis.

Hope to find them in Germany soon... Full bullion sovs are not a problem usually, half and doubles a bit more so, and nobody has an idea about how the quarter bullion might be available over here.

Last year I had to order the double bullion from RM as no German dealer had it. Half bullion was available but from a dwindling number of dealers.

On the other hand, I kind of like the new card packaging, so probably I will order all four sizes in cards from RM.

Let's see what the waylayers try to do about them. Lately, they taxed/customed my proof sov but after a complaint, they promised a refund soon. 

19 minutes ago, auleAboutNumismatics said:

Thanks! 6th Feb is a Sunday, does the Royal Mint also launch new item on weekends?

Launching and striking have usually not been on the same day anyway, Sunday or not.

Completing the platinum Beasts series;

2-3 Israeli gold ounces;

a bit of German river gold;

Completing the Victoria Jubilee and Old Heads (without caring about JEB and other variants), slabbed if available;

5-10 High-graded Sovs (MS, or at least AU58 for shield backs);

1 hour ago, Divmad said:

Will the bullion version initially sell at a small premium to spot, like all other modern sovereign yearly issues?

I would think so. 

None for me. Two hours in the queue. I think it is the first time I didn't get anything since I started collecting RM stuff. 

On the positive side, I just saved 260 pounds. 

Not about sovereigns but the same-sized Burgers Ponds come to my mind.

Mintage was ca. 900 in two versions, and most of them ended up in jewelry 😢. It is hard to find one that hasn't been 'mounted' at some point.  

Oh hell, I'll be on the motorway all morning tomorrow. Hope I can have a short break at launch time. Going for 2oz silver only. 

On 30/11/2021 at 13:05, sori said:

 

On 30/11/2021 at 13:05, sori said:

The problem is that there are only 12000 coins this first year.

12000 is a hell lot. I guess they will not sell out too fast. 

On 30/11/2021 at 09:33, SilverStorm said:

I wonder which online bullion dealer will sell this coin?  🤔

Degussa would be my bet 😁

3 hours ago, James32 said:

Think it's debit card for special releases and credit cards for bullion??

But you can just preload your account in advance to save any hassle. 

I thought it is the other way around.

For the double sov bullion 2021 (not available in Germany as everyone was awash with 2020) I was required to use my prepaid card (i.e. debit), and for all the proofs I use the credit card.

Shield backs with MS grades (I have none so far but I see how good they do at auctions).