Premium on Victoria Shield Back Sovereigns

[thanasis]

Hello, I'm new to this forum and this is my very first topic. 🙂

I have recently became interested in gold sovereigns and thinking of making a purchase, although I would like to consult the members of the forum who have more experience.

I am thinking of buying 2 Victoria Shield Back Sovereigns, 1854 and 1878-S, both with the Larger Second Young Head, from a seller who is offering them for 385€ each (The time I am posting this, the price of a gold sovereign based purely on its weight of gold is 347.5€).

My question is what is the premium I should be expecting to pay for these sovereigns and generally for the Shield Back type?

[Norskgeld]

Sounds like a good price to me as premiums on Shield Backs are quite high.

In the UK the premium on Shield Backs is around £100.

This assumes the coins are in reasonable condition too.

[pricha]

Condition is important if you were paying a premium . At that price i wouldn't worry . 

[Allgoldcoins]

With Victorian Shields sovereigns grade is the important issue, unlike some more common sovereigns all are quite collectable in higher grades. You don't normally see shield sovereigns in bullion batches, in fact I know a few bullion dealers who takes these out of any sovereigns they get in. The more common shield dates which is mainly some 1850's, 1860s and 71-73 London and a couple of the 70s/80s Sydney and Melbourne dates in low grade do only command 50-60 quid over spot so £350 - £360 is a reasonable price to pay to get a reasonable looking example. 

All 1840s will cost more, I think £400 min to get even a reasonably worn coin from the early to mid 40s. Once you start looking at grades of Good Very Fine and above prices rise quite sharply even for the more common years, a £350 1854 might be £1500 for one which gets towards GEF or AUNC, they are very difficult to find.

If anyone wants a tip on how to know how good your Shield sovereigns are, look at the obverse, Victoria has a small curl in front of her ear, that is the 1st wear point, followed by a flattening of the hair above Victoria's ear. If you check the reverse you are looking to see how many of the lions faces you can actually see clearly, if you can see all 6 faces without wear you have a top drawer coin. 

[thanasis]

Many thanks to all your replies 😊

@Norskgeld, pricha     So it seems that I can't go wrong with this purchase 😉

@Allgoldcoins                Appreciate the valuable info 😮

The seller was able to send me some pictures, so maybe you could once again offer me your advice and tell me your thoughts on the condition of these coins:

 

[pricha]

Ouch . At £333 approx about right. A serious collector wouldn't touch them . Far too worn , but fine just to add gold to stack.  

[LawrenceChard]

On 15/04/2021 at 19:07, thanasis said:

Hello, I'm new to this forum and this is my very first topic. 🙂

I have recently became interested in gold sovereigns and thinking of making a purchase, although I would like to consult the members of the forum who have more experience.

I am thinking of buying 2 Victoria Shield Back Sovereigns, 1854 and 1878-S, both with the Larger Second Young Head, from a seller who is offering them for 385€ each (The time I am posting this, the price of a gold sovereign based purely on its weight of gold is 347.5€).

My question is what is the premium I should be expecting to pay for these sovereigns and generally for the Shield Back type?

If you find any "Shield Front" sovereigns, please let me know. They are extremely rare. 🙂

https://www.chards.co.uk/blog/shield-back-sovereigns/191

[thanasis]

@LawrenceChard Hahaha!!! Guess learning the terminology is equally important...😂

"Shield Front" 😆.....Even rarer are the "Shielded Edge" sovereigns...😛