Auric1253

Many thanks to Steve and Booky for their replies.
I have now acquired a digital balance whose readout in grams goes to 3 decimal places (ie 1mg res.) and I have to assume that is reasonably accurate (at least in the range 1 gram to 50 grams)
The reason for that is that when I weigh calibration weights either singly or in combination of stamped values 1g, 2g, 5g, 10g, 20g, 50g, the display reads repeatedly the exact value you would expect (or within 1 milligram of that).
I don't see how that could happen if the weights were not very accurate or balance not accurate.
Now here comes the mystery. When weighing sovereigns (of diverse dates) that I can see are uncirculated or are known to be uncirculated, I consistently get a weight of 7.998 grams, a deviation of 10 milligrams from the official figure of 7.988 grams.
It is as though the Mint has added an extra 10mg for good luck .
Any thoughts?
PS I can give identifying details of the model of scales that I bought if anybody is interested.
PPS the weight of  modern 50p coin such as you will find in your change is somewhat variable, though officially 8 grams . But it wasn’t difficult to find one that gave exactly the same read out on the scales as an uncirculated sovereign. So that gives a cheap low-cost check you can carry around in your pocket. to determine if  a sovereign has lost weight from wear.

Many thanks to Steve and Booky for their replies.
I have now acquired a digital balance whose readout in grams goes to 3 decimal places (ie 1mg res.) and I have to assume that is reasonably accurate (at least in the range 1 gram to 50 grams)
The reason for that is that when I weigh calibration weights either singly or in combination of stamped values 1g, 2g, 5g, 10g, 20g, 50g, the display reads repeatedly the exact value you would expect (or within 1 milligram of that).
I don't see how that could happen if the weights were not very accurate or balance not accurate.
Now here comes the mystery. When weighing sovereigns (of diverse dates) that I can see are uncirculated or are known to be uncirculated, I consistently get a weight of 7.998 grams, a deviation of 10 milligrams from the official figure of 7.988 grams.
It is as though the Mint has added an extra 10mg for good luck .
Any thoughts?
PS I can give identifying details of the model of scales that I bought if anybody is interested.
PPS the weight of  modern 50p coin such as you will find in your change is somewhat variable, though officially 8 grams . But it wasn’t difficult to find one that gave exactly the same read out on the scales as an uncirculated sovereign. So that gives a cheap low-cost check you can carry around in your pocket. to determine if  a sovereign has lost weight from wear.

Many thanks to Steve and Booky for their replies.
I have now acquired a digital balance whose readout in grams goes to 3 decimal places (ie 1mg res.) and I have to assume that is reasonably accurate (at least in the range 1 gram to 50 grams)
The reason for that is that when I weigh calibration weights either singly or in combination of stamped values 1g, 2g, 5g, 10g, 20g, 50g, the display reads repeatedly the exact value you would expect (or within 1 milligram of that).
I don't see how that could happen if the weights were not very accurate or balance not accurate.
Now here comes the mystery. When weighing sovereigns (of diverse dates) that I can see are uncirculated or are known to be uncirculated, I consistently get a weight of 7.998 grams, a deviation of 10 milligrams from the official figure of 7.988 grams.
It is as though the Mint has added an extra 10mg for good luck .
Any thoughts?
PS I can give identifying details of the model of scales that I bought if anybody is interested.
PPS the weight of  modern 50p coin such as you will find in your change is somewhat variable, though officially 8 grams . But it wasn’t difficult to find one that gave exactly the same read out on the scales as an uncirculated sovereign. So that gives a cheap low-cost check you can carry around in your pocket. to determine if  a sovereign has lost weight from wear.