Sovereign Errors, Overdates and Varieties

[Foster88]

I thought I’d share this 1853 London mint sovereign that I’ve recently received.

I have read that this date is well known for minting errors.

 

[Foster88]

Does anyone have a 1870 London mint full sovereign in their collection?

I have noticed something odd with the E in REGINA on one I have whereby the E letter is very elongated at the top. Also there appears to be a line between the E and G.

I’m just wondering if this could be a possible error or is it just a die flaw?

[Foster88]

Strange error on I in GRATIA on 1855 sovereign with the top of the I missing.

I’ve never seen this before. Has anyone else?

[sovereignsteve]

The OP will have several. No, seriously, he will😁

[TheGoldSovereign]

On 06/09/2020 at 18:07, Foster88 said:

Strange error on I in GRATIA on 1855 sovereign with the top of the I missing.

I’ve never seen this before. Has anyone else?

Yes Unbarred As are super common in the 50s

[sovereignsteve]

2 hours ago, TheGoldSovereign said:

Yes Unbarred As are super common in the 50s

Agreed, but he was referring to the missing serifs on the "I". They are pretty rare in my experience.

[TheGoldSovereign]

13 hours ago, sovereignsteve said:

Agreed, but he was referring to the missing serifs on the "I". They are pretty rare in my experience.

Ah yes I see, not something I often record actually unless its on the previously recorded dates like 1843 etc. I assume its just a poor strike that causes this just like the As

[Metallurgic]

Hello gents, I am not very savvy with sovereigns, I have received a few recently and all seem to be fine. Sound and weight is correct but diameter is off any ideas?

Should I send it back as this is a 1980 sov and I wouldn't expect a coin to be off by that much, but on the other hand I wouldn't expect them newer sovs to be counterfeited, press or striking error maybe? 

Weight:8 gr

Width 1.43 to 1.56

Diameter varied

Edited November 15, 2020 by Metallurgic

[Metallurgic]

And the reverse

Edited November 15, 2020 by Metallurgic

[TheGoldSovereign]

What's wrong with the diameter?

[Metallurgic]

Ηi it's varied from 22.06mm to 22.18 isnt that weird? Or because of the it's uneven in thickness is squares out the difference? 

Edited November 15, 2020 by Metallurgic

[augur]

4 hours ago, Metallurgic said:

Hello gents, I am not very savvy with sovereigns, I have received a few recently and all seem to be fine. Sound and weight is correct but diameter is off any ideas?

Should I send it back as this is a 1980 sov and I wouldn't expect a coin to be off by that much, but on the other hand I wouldn't expect them newer sovs to be counterfeited, press or striking error maybe? 

Weight:8 gr

Width 1.43 to 1.56

Diameter varied

 

 

The chest of the horse looks dodgy and the date doesn’t appear to be sharply struck either. Could be fake

[TheGoldSovereign]

@Metallurgic  You are talking about a tiny tiny amount, no I don't think that is anything to worry about, likely just your calipers to be honest

 

edit: I didn't even look at the coin I was purely talking about measurements. I've added some images for reference.

Edited November 15, 2020 by TheGoldSovereign

[Metallurgic]

Many thanks for your inputs gentelmen, please see attached pictures for the issues raised. 

There seems to be a nick on the left chest side of the horse, rather than anything else, for the date I tried to take as clearer pictures as I could

 

Thanks again much appreciated 

[augur]

17 minutes ago, Metallurgic said:

Many thanks for your inputs gentelmen, please see attached pictures for the issues raised. 

There seems to be a nick on the left chest side of the horse, rather than anything else, for the date I tried to take as clearer pictures as I could

 

Thanks again much appreciated 

Best to compare with the reference image. The left foreleg is also missing a blob. Could be struck through grease or a copy. Try to compare under a loupe or return for replacement if unsure.

Please bear in mind that this thread is for rare errors and overstrikes and not for fake identification. You can open your own thread if you are unsure about the authenticity. 

[Metallurgic]

4 minutes ago, augur said:

Best to compare with the reference image. The left foreleg is also missing a blob. Could be struck through grease or a copy. Try to compare under a loupe or return for replacement if unsure.

Please bear in mind that this thread is for rare errors and overstrikes and not for fake identification. You can open your own thread if you are unsure about the authenticity. 

Many thanks and sorry for invading the thread 

[TheGoldSovereign]

I just wanted to update this thread with an error that's going around in PCGS slabs because Spink refuse to do some actual research on the coins they put in their books and let this one erroneously in, my emails to them have been dismissed as "well someone must have seen it"

The coin in question is an apparent 1857/5 variety, that just does not exist.

I'm bringing it up because there is one upcoming in an auction in a week's time and is already up to 800quid, and people seriously need to look at what they are buying rather that just trusting labels! 

Below is the coin in question which you can clearly see isn't an error, I have over 10 examples of this exact same coin and I can assure everyone there is no error to be found.

[sovereignsteve]

4 hours ago, Witcher said:

I have a question and was hoping that someone more knowledgeable about gold sovereign can help. 
I saw some 1/4 gold sovereign at an LCS today.  Asking $125 for them.  After taxes, this is around 95 GBP. 
Supposedly, the gold content is 0.059, which he said is a quarter of a quarter. Makes sense if a sovereign is .24 of an ounce to start. 
I do not know the year.  I know that it is graded MS70 if that makes a difference. 

It is worth a look or a hard pass?  
Equivalent to a 1oz gold, it comes out to $2,225 USD, if I calculated it correctly, and seems rather high, though fractional coins carry higher premiums. 
 

Worth a look I'd say, depending on year may be worth more.

PF70 graded proofs can go for nice money although I haven't seen any MS kicking around. Don't take that much notice of quarter sovs TBH, I have trouble enough with the size of halves.

[Swampy]

@Witcher amazes me the detail they can get on a coin that small!

I think premiums are generally high on them but if it’s a royal mint proof then it’s ok at £95 is my collecting view.   2012 & 2017 special reverses would be good to pick up. 

I’m not sure I’d buy a quarter sov if it was not produced by the royal mint. I also would stick to the proof ones as so small you want better detail as a collector. 

[BiigT]

I've just read all 14 pages on this thread and I have to say that I think I'm hooked into looking at the collecting side of sovs instead of just stacking. I have already purchased 4 sovs so far (after starting off with silver) and I'm now ready to buy a few more. 

I'm going to order a 30x loupe to have a look at the 4 I've got, just to see if there is anything that might make them unusual. Highly doubtful, but it makes it interesting if nothing else. 

I was going to make my next purchase(s) standard sovs, but I'm going to look for something that might give me a better (long term) return because of its particular variety. I've also bought the new Michael Marsh book to start educating me on this interesting coin and I have also book marked the gold sovereign website of the OP. Thanks for starting this thread, it's really sparked my interest. 

Is there any other advice or things that you would suggest reading or watching? 

Thanks in advance 

Tony

[Allgoldcoins]

Here is a link to my series on the sovereign recently serialized in the Coin News :

The Jubilee sovereign section was written before the DISH system so is a little out of date, but hopefully it will give you a good insight into the sovereign.

https://www.allgoldcoins.co.uk/pages/knowledge-base

 

 

[BiigT]

3 hours ago, Allgoldcoins said:

Here is a link to my series on the sovereign recently serialized in the Coin News :

The Jubilee sovereign section was written before the DISH system so is a little out of date, but hopefully it will give you a good insight into the sovereign.

https://www.allgoldcoins.co.uk/pages/knowledge-base

 

 

Wow, this looks great, thanks

[CadmiumGreen]

5 hours ago, Allgoldcoins said:

Here is a link to my series on the sovereign recently serialized in the Coin News :

The Jubilee sovereign section was written before the DISH system so is a little out of date, but hopefully it will give you a good insight into the sovereign.

https://www.allgoldcoins.co.uk/pages/knowledge-base

 

 

Are you telling me I could have waited patiently for your compilation in this excellent knowledge base vice buying years long subscription to Coin News?!?! Which by the way, was the principle driver for getting a subscription, no matter how many months delays it would take to get my copy!😆

 

[Allgoldcoins]

On 02/05/2021 at 23:38, CadmiumGreen said:

Are you telling me I could have waited patiently for your compilation in this excellent knowledge base vice buying years long subscription to Coin News?!?! Which by the way, was the principle driver for getting a subscription, no matter how many months delays it would take to get my copy!😆

 

I wanted to come back on this Sunday but the forum was down, so first of all thank you for your nice comments, you certainly could have waited but the articles did contain a little more in the way of figures and tables. I am self taught in the history of the sovereign, I had no idea what any of the official terms of abbreviations meant when I started out, so the articles are written for anyone without previous knowledge to learn the basics about my favorite coin - The Sovereign. 

Thank you again..

 

[PNE]

Hi all,

 

I have a 1875 S shield gold sovereign, it seems to have a mis-strike on the V, could someone tell me if it is a common issue with this coin please? As you may guess, quite new to this lol

thanks in advance