Air Bubbles on Gold Sovereigns

[paulmerton]

41 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

Enjoyed? Yes, I suppose I did.

I estimate there were between 3 million and 7 million pages involving primary male sexual organs in combination with air or bubbles, so either you're a fast reader, or this has been a long-standing investigation. 😎

A few other words get used incorrectly meaning plating, such as layered, or coated.

There is also "gold-filled" which sounds llike something filled with gold, but means the opposite, usually rolled gold, where the gold is "filled" with base metal.

The thumbnail or press test you tried is a good one in my opinion, and I agree, a bubble under a very thin plating would probably burst or distort much more easily.

It might be worth asking the Royal Mint, via its "chat" feature, if they can provide an opinion.

 

I didn't know they had a chat feature! Has it gone recently, as I can't seem to find it.

[LawrenceChard]

24 minutes ago, paulmerton said:

I didn't know they had a chat feature! Has it gone recently, as I can't seem to find it.

I have never used it, so I might be wrong. Perhaps it is via one of their social media pages.

Or...

https://www.royalmint.com/contact/

Contact us
There’s no question too small or request too big for the Royal Mint customer service experts. From enquiries about our latest coin releases, information on a recent order or providing product care, we’re always at your service. 

😎

[paulmerton]

What do you make of this one?

Is this just post-mint damage, or could it be that the planchet was damaged/bubbled before it was struck?

[MJCOIN]

1 hour ago, paulmerton said:

What do you make of this one?

Is this just post-mint damage, or could it be that the planchet was damaged/bubbled before it was struck?

Possibly die cracks?

[paulmerton]

23 hours ago, MJCOIN said:

Possibly die cracks?

I thought an indentation (as opposed to a protrusion) would be more likely something to do with a crack in the planchet than in the die? It seems to have done something funny to the top-left of the R as well, although I have no similar coins to compare it with. Paging @LawrenceChard for his expert opinion  

[LawrenceChard]

18 minutes ago, paulmerton said:

I thought an indentation (as opposed to a protrusion) would be more likely something to do with a crack in the planchet than in the die? It seems to have done something funny to the top-left of the R as well, although I have no similar coins to compare it with. Paging @LawrenceChard for his expert opinion  

I'm trying to work out what the coin is supposed to be.

Without doing a comparison, the proportions don't look right for a sovereign. Could it be a crown, or a gold £5?

The colour balance on the photos does not help.

[paulmerton]

2 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

I'm trying to work out what the coin is supposed to be.

Without doing a comparison, the proportions don't look right for a sovereign. Could it be a crown, or a gold £5?

The colour balance on the photos does not help.

It's a half sovereign. The sigma says it's real so it must be, right?  

[LawrenceChard]

29 minutes ago, paulmerton said:

I thought an indentation (as opposed to a protrusion) would be more likely something to do with a crack in the planchet than in the die? It seems to have done something funny to the top-left of the R as well, although I have no similar coins to compare it with. Paging @LawrenceChard for his expert opinion  

I should have worked out it was a half sov!

There are a couple of small raised pimples to the left of the horse's tail, which I would look closer at.

The obverse rim flaw looks like it goes underneath the letter "R" without damaging it, so it must be a flaw in the blank / planchet.

[paulmerton]

22 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

I should have worked out it was a half sov!

I must admit, I was a bit worried there for a moment! I did get it below spot, so my suspicions have been high but it seemed to check out to me.

23 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

There are a couple of small raised pimples to the left of the horse's tail, which I would look closer at.

I just had a look through a loupe and it turns out those are just dirty marks that seem to show up more on the photos. There are no raised bits there.

24 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

The obverse rim flaw looks like it goes underneath the letter "R" without damaging it, so it must be a flaw in the blank / planchet.

Exciting! How common is that sort of thing in sovereigns? Does it affect the value at all?

[paulmerton]

On 25/04/2022 at 14:48, MJCOIN said:

Possibly die cracks?

Funnily enough, while I was taking another look at it to see what those possible raised bits were that @LawrenceChard pointed out, I discovered something new.

On almost the complete opposite side, there is this protruding line of metal running up from the D of DEF, which does look like it could be a die crack. (excuse the limitations of my sub-£20 microscope thing - I couldn't see it at all on the phone photos!)

[LawrenceChard]

1 hour ago, paulmerton said:

I must admit, I was a bit worried there for a moment! I did get it below spot, so my suspicions have been high but it seemed to check out to me.

I just had a look through a loupe and it turns out those are just dirty marks that seem to show up more on the photos. There are no raised bits there.

Exciting! How common is that sort of thing in sovereigns? Does it affect the value at all?

I see metal flaws on sovereigns every week or so, not exactly common, but not rare either.

Probably not much effect on value, but some collectors might find them more interesting, as I do.

[LawrenceChard]

1 hour ago, paulmerton said:

Funnily enough, while I was taking another look at it to see what those possible raised bits were that @LawrenceChard pointed out, I discovered something new.

On almost the complete opposite side, there is this protruding line of metal running up from the D of DEF, which does look like it could be a die crack. (excuse the limitations of my sub-£20 microscope thing - I couldn't see it at all on the phone photos!)

That's a good image from a low cost microscope. We bought one, but it arrived DOA, so returned it to Amazon.

Yes, raised lines like that are usually caused by die cracks.

[paulmerton]

5 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

That's a good image from a low cost microscope. We bought one, but it arrived DOA, so returned it to Amazon.

Yes, raised lines like that are usually caused by die cracks.

The built in LED light from it is not very helpful for getting the colours right or making it easy to see 3D relief. It seems slightly better if you tilt the coin slightly, but would probably be even better still if you used an external light source. This is about the best I can do with it this close up, which I still think is pretty remarkable for a teeny half sovereign. I can't even see this defect with the naked eye.

[LawrenceChard]

2 minutes ago, paulmerton said:

The built in LED light from it is not very helpful for getting the colours right or making it easy to see 3D relief. It seems slightly better if you tilt the coin slightly, but would probably be even better still if you used an external light source. This is about the best I can do with it this close up, which I still think is pretty remarkable for a teeny half sovereign. I can't even see this defect with the naked eye.

I agree with all of that.

Lighting will always be difficult with close-ups.