Britannia47

1997 Proof Sovereign for £149 from RM. Seemed a lot of money then cf. bullion sovereigns for £45/50!

The 'UNITED' spacing from the rim of the coin may concern you, but in my opinion is simply a minting anomaly. I think its genuine. Testing may not help as I understand the Chinese can replicate the exact composition of the coin ie 900 gold, but make their money from the added numismatic value. 900 gold (21.6 carat) has been used for virtually all early American coins ie Eagles and Double eagles etc, and even the Mexican 50 Pesos. 1909 is the only year in which Indian Head Half Eagles were produced at four different mints: Philadelphia, Denver, New Orleans, and San Francisco with a

Similar thread to this by Leon Marsh Dec 11 2020 ' Indian Head Experts Opinions' Check it out.

According to Mike Fuljenz's book on 'Indian Gold Coins of the 20th Century' "...the 1913 is the second most common Indian Head Half Eagle in terms of overall rarity" Mintage of 915,901 + 99 Proofs. (Philadelphia) Other statistics are remarkably similar to the Sovereign. Composition .900 gold, 100 copper. Net Weight .24187 oz pure gold. Diameter 21.6mm. Looks in good condition if real. The designers initials BLP on the obverse = Bela Lyon Pratt. That's all I can tell you as I do not have one in my collection Good-luck.

I like your proposed choice of Brits, and medium to long term strategy. It worked for me buying Krugerrands and Britannias over 20 years ago for about £220 each. That's a profit of over 650%! but I am still collecting at todays prices. I am expecting delivery of the 2021 Britannia this afternoon from ATS Bullion for £1434. I find 'Bullion by Post' more expensive. However 'fractionals' are also popular especially the Queens Beasts 1/4oz. This series has now finished, so we wait and see what's next. Having said all that, I have more sovereigns than Brits. The sovereign will always be a popular

Not surprising this coin looks good, because the catalogue this photo comes from says " a grade almost never seen on this type!" It's in superb condition. I would rate yours at about VF' If you look carefully at the reverse there is a fair bit of 'flat' wear on all areas, whereas the laureate head with higher relief on the obverse tends to retain the detail regardless of wear. It looks in similar condition to my 1824 sovereign (S) I would be asking £1000+ if I ever sold.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tanita-0-01g-Precision-Calibration-Facility/dp/B001AZIJX4 This is what I use. You may want a 200g calibration weight as well. Great for checking 1oz gold coins, also a new sovereign, especially when it reads 7.98 g!

Thanks for all your comments. We will have to wait and see what happens. The Queen is now 94. I didn't realise how bad the current Canadian obverse image is - perhaps engraved by a French Canadian! Oddly enough my 1983 Maple has an Arnold Machin image and looks OK. Queen Victoria was 18 when she modelled the 'Young head' for William Wyon in 1837. and she only agreed to change it at the age of 68 for the Jubilee head! It was one way to feel young for so long. How about KIng Andrew 1st (Eighth in line to the throne)? No sweat!

Sooner or later there will be a new regnal image on the obverse. Will it be Charles III, or William V or will Prince Charles use one of his middle names and chose to be George VII as speculation suggests? Any bets or suggestion welcome. Either way its going to be very costly changing the image not just on coins but banknotes. I feel a bit embarrassed that Canada and Australia still use the Queens head on their coinage. How will they feel about Charles I wonder? One last comment on Obverses. Can anyone else at a glance tell the difference in age between An IRB and a JC obverse of the Queens po

The colour of all 22ct gold coins will change according to the alloy used. The 'brownish' colour you refer to is simply the copper giving the coin a reddish or even pinkish colour, thereafter referred to as 'RED' gold. ' YELLOW' gold is usually a mix of copper and silver. Using all silver in the alloy produces 'GREEN' gold, but you have to look carefully to see the slightest green hue. I first noticed this on a 2005 'Australia' proof sovereign which I had tested which had no copper in it whatsoever. With sovereigns its a good idea to compare a 1/4oz Queens Beast side by side with a recent sove

999.4 Purity? Stamping looks a bit amateurish. No serial number. Perhaps the purity varies, so a space is left for stamping the quality of that particular bar after pouring/testing.

Not sure about the 2017. N Ireland looks like a mans profile looking at Britannia's bum! Although I like them all, my favourite is the 2007, by a whisker over the charioteer of 1997. Looking outside the box the De Saulles design on the 1902 Florin is superb.

The Royal Mint cannot be expected that one of their deliberate errors will not go unnoticed by Lawrence 'Eddie the Eagle Eye' Chard, a man who skis in his underpants! Personally I can't tell the difference between a Half / Full sovereign image of St George, however I did spot on their historical coin section similar errors of mis- representation, relating to sovereigns. Royal Mint, how dare you think you can pull the wool over the eyes of Silver Forum members! We are watching you!......

I bought one 3 years ago from ATS for £3300. Its amazing that something so small ( 45mm x 35mm) feels so heavy! - that's 3.2 toz. It was a good investment in 2017, and is now part of my 'handling' collection together with a 1oz Buffalo. On dark winter nights when feeling miserable because my platinum and BT shares have lost me money, out they come and cheer me up no end! Everyone should literally be in touch with their gold. Not everything should be sandwiched between 2 layers of plastic. At least feel some bullion sovereigns between your fingers. Cheers,

Steve Hills(Marsh) price guide values it at £2000 based on auction prices and a minimum grade of EF. "Coins in lower grades are worth considerably less" That's a ball park figure for a coin that is unlikely to be found in Uncirculated condition. I have compared it with my own 1924 sovereign and the wear seems very similar particularly on the reverse. I would grade mine as good VF, perhaps nearly EF, but certainly not Uncirculated! That said, I think £1300 is a good price to pay in my opinion. Only NGC/PCGS will give you a more accurate grade. Good-luck with whatever you decide.